CHALLENGING THE ABUSE OF ENVIRONMENT WITH A FORCE OF EXAMPLE

After a sudden downpour in Akure, Ondo State, yesterday evening, I decided on getting some accessories for my computer before the close of business, suddenly I saw a young woman holding a rake by the gutter along the popular Oba Adesida road, pushing piles of dirt under the culvert. I was shocked, in exclamation, I said, Madam that’s dangerous, that gutter will be blocked and water will flood the whole environment, destroying properties, even lives. She responded, “Na only me go dey pack am? Bcos na my shop near here, every time rain fall them go dey throway dirty for gutter, Environmental people go come dey worry me for here”

Nigeria Will Be World’s Best Example In Emission Reduction – President Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari says Nigeria will be one of the world’s best examples in emission reduction.

The President made this known on November 15 in his statement at the 22nd Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) taking place in Marrakech, Morocco.

A statement issued in Abuja by Mr Femi Adesina, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, said Buhari outlined Federal Government’s plan toward aligning with the global objectives on climate change and ensuring inclusive growth and environmental sustainability.

President Buhari, therefore, declared the resolve of government to ensure that policies put in place to address climate change would make the country emerge as one of the world’s best examples of how reducing emissions could benefit the environment and the economy.

Buhari in Marrakech, promises 30GW on-grid power capacity by 2030 - Sweetcrude

President Muhammadu Buhari has announced plans to increase Nigeria’s on-grid power capacity to 30 GigaWatts by 2030 from the current level of about 5 GigaWatts adding that 30 per cent of the capacity would be generated through renewable energy technologies.

This is even as he disclosed that the 2017 capital budget would be a green budget that would reflect the country’s efforts at realising Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) despite a drop in federal revenue.

He stated this at Africa Day in Marrakech, Morocco on the sideline of COP22, organised by the African Union (AU) in collaboration with Nigeria and Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS), with the theme: “Moving from Commitment to Action with the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) and the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI).”

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Global Warming Fight Advances Despite Trump’s Skepticism - Bloomberg

• Countries took steps in Morocco to carry out Paris accord
• China, Saudi Arabia among previous opponents now vowing action

More than 190 nations including the U.S., China and Saudi Arabia vowed to step up their efforts to fight global warming despite concerns that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will pull the richest polluter out of the process when he takes office next year.

Envoys and more than 50 national leaders in Marrakech, Morocco, agreed early Saturday to a roadmap for developing a rulebook by 2018 that will strengthen the landmark Paris Agreement signed last year to limit fossil-fuel emissions and keep temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

“We’ve fulfilled the job we came here to do,” European Union Climate and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said in an interview immediately after the talks wrapped up. “The message this sends to America is that there is full commitment from the global community, that climate change is such a big challenge, that it’s much more important than countries and their elections.”

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Northeast Nigeria to get $600m solar power plants

Credit: Clean Technica

Consortium of German renewable energy companies led by Nigus has concluded plans with the Federal Government to build five solar power plants worth N183bn ($600m) in some North-Eastern states in Nigeria

According to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council and the consortium, each of the solar power plants will have capacity to generate 100 megawatts of electricity.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a meeting between the council and the consortium in Abuja on Tuesday, the Head, Overseas Operations, NIPC, Mr. Abubakar Yerima, stated that the decision to build the power plants in the North was reached after several meetings with the investors. 

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‘How recession affects Nigeria’s transition to renewable energy’ - Guardian (Lagos)

A photovoltaic park in Les Mees, southern France Credit Jean-Paul Pelissier/REUTERS

Inadequate financing triggered by recent economic recession was on Monday identified as a major constraint to Nigeria’s transition to renewable energy.

Speakers at a seminar on “Start-ups in Renewable Energy”, organised by the Consulate-General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Lagos in conjunction with the Delegation of German Industry and Commerce in Nigeria, said the impact was felt more in foreign borrowing.

According to the delegation’s Head of Energy and Environment Desk, Mrs. Barbel Freyer, while speaking with The Guardian, access to financing for proper start-ups in renewable energy had been hampered as the recession triggers unpredictable exchange rate which does not encourage external borrowing.

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Trump Plans to Quit Paris Deal, Hires Climate Denier for EPA Transition Team - ecowatch

Credit: ecowatch.com

Donald Trump's advisers are exploring alternatives to bypass the four-year waiting period to back out from the Paris agreement, a member of the transition team told Reuters.

The options include withdrawing from the parent treaty, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, entirely or issuing a presidential order to delete the U.S. signature from the climate deal. 

Before leaving for Marrakech on Sunday, Sec. of State John Kerry said that the Obama administration would do everything possible to implement the global agreement before Trump takes office.

In an interview, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Europe should respond with a trade war and institute a carbon tax for U.S. products if Trump backs out.

Backing out of the Paris agreement isn't the only anti-environment plan Trump has been touting. 

He has also said he wants to dismantle the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and revoke the Clean Power Plan.

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