The President, Muhammadu Buhari, speaking at the opening
plenary of the COP-26 climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland said Africa is
being cheated, oppressed and lied to by rich nations.
He said this is despite the continent almost being
non-emitters, stressing that it is responsible for a mere five per cent of
global emissions.
Reminding the developed countries of the pledge to provide
at least $100 billion yearly to developing countries, Buhari said Africa has
heard enough of the talk from rich nations, saying “it’s high time they walked
their talk.”
He expressed disappointment that some of the world’s biggest
emitters, China, with 11 per cent contribution to global warming, and Russia
did not attend the summit in person.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and
Publicity, Garba Shehu disclosed this in a statement titled, ‘@COP26, Nigeria
Sends Powerful Message To Rich Nations,’ on Tuesday.
The statement read in part, “President Buhari’s speech which
centred on a number of issues agitating Africa and the developing countries,
criticised the rich countries, the major emitters which brought the world’s
climate to this sorry state for making promises toward climate finance that
till date, have remained hollow.
“The President told world leaders that the goal of
transitioning from fossil fuel to clean energy, reaching a Net zero ambition
for green house emission would require critical infrastructure to be in place
in developing countries.
Shehu quoted Buhari as saying, “Parties to the Paris
Agreement are expected to transition from fossil fuel to clean energy and reach
a Net Zero ambition for greenhouse gases emission.
“We agree that Net Zero ambition can lead to economic
transformation across all sectors. It is a good ambition, but it requires
critical infrastructure in place, including for renewable energy. Therefore, in
Nigeria, it will take us longer time to get to Net Zero.”
Making a case for financial support, the President stated
that attaining national and global climate change goals would require adequate
and sustained technical and financial support to developing countries.
According to the statement, “He added that greater efforts
should be channeled towards assisting developing countries to meet their
Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) commitments through the pledges made
by the developed countries to provide at least $100 billion yearly.
“The Nigerian leader noted that easier access to climate
finance had become imperative because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which really
battered the economies of developing countries.
“The USD 100 billion every year to developing countries
signed onto from the Paris 2016 climate change accords, as a promise made by
the developed countries, has so far proved to be hollow.”
Shehu said without coming out to bluntly say so, Buhari
pointed out the hypocrisy of the developed world for imposing standards that
would clearly stunt development in developing countries.
“May I recall that the phenomenal growth of industrial
economies has been driven by access to stable and abundant supply of relatively
cheap energy,” Buhari was quoted as saying.
Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com