Nigeria is glad that the United States President, Joe
Biden’s administration is fully back on board the climate change global agenda,
in a commendable restoration of the US government’s support for the Paris
Agreement, according to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN.
Osinbajo stated this on Monday when he received at the
Presidential Villa, Abuja, a US government delegation led by the White House
Deputy National Security Advisor, Mr. Jonathan Finer, who is currently visiting
Nigeria.
According to Osinbajo, “We’re happy that the US is fully on
board with climate change and back to the table on this issue. I think one has
to commend the drive that this US administration has put behind climate
change.”
Four years ago, the Trump administration had announced the
US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation issues. But
on assumption to power earlier this year, the Biden administration announced
the restoration of America’s commitment to the agreement.
Reiterating Nigeria’s position regarding a just transition
from fossil fuels to clean energy, ahead of the Net-zero Emissions 2050 target,
the VP made the point that “we are concerned, amongst other things, first about
some of what has been going on, especially around gas as an effective
transition fuel, and how many of the Development Finance Institutions (DFIs)
and some countries are insisting that gas projects should be defunded.
“This is a principal concern to us; it is one that we have
made central to our advocacy and it is one of the issues that we intend to
promote at the COP26.”
He then informed the US delegation of Nigeria’s Energy
Transition Plan, which is the first in Africa.
“We have done the costing for it and all of what is required
to be able to hit net-zero by 2050. Also, what the implications would be, given
the constraints there, and how realistic it would be to get to net-zero by 2050
or not,” the VP added.
Regarding the Democracy Summit President Joe Biden would be
hosting later in the year, the VP stated that Nigeria looked forward to
participating at the summit.
The Vice President also noted that “one of the things we
have always spoken about is how to ensure that illicit financial flows are
discouraged,” while adding that the international monetary and financial
systems have a role in stopping it.
“Looking at what happened in the last few years, we have
received quite a bit of support from the US government, especially in terms of
the repatriation of several of the looted funds, and we hope to continue to get
the cooperation of the US.”
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