Nigeria has become the first African country to receive the climate clock as part of measures to tackle climate change and desertification in the country.
The founder and Chairman Zoetic Global Ltd, USA, Jerome Ringo, presented the climate clock to the Minister, during the ‘High Level Presentation Ceremony of the Climate Clock to Nigeria’.
The Minister of Women Affairs, Dame Pauline Tallen, received the clock on behalf of the Federal Government Tuesday night in Abuja.
Dame Tallen, said that the government is continuously pulling efforts to fight climate change in the country.
According to her, the Federal Government is working with the local, national and global climate community towards meeting the set climate target.
“Climate change is a global issue, impacting different parts of world and at varying degrees. However, developing countries like Nigeria have less capacity to adapt to climate change impacts. In that order, women and the vulnerable groups have the least capacity to adapt to the impacts.
“So, when you are looking for the face of climate change- look at the face of the women. This is quite evident in our communities in Nigeria, where over 60 per cent of the workforce in agriculture sector are women.
“The impact of climate change in Nigeria is huge. The drying up of Lake chad to 10 per cent of its original size has caused undue hardship to the lives in that region. It has adversely affected lives and livelihoods and increased vulnerability of our young ones to restiveness and militancy,” Tallen said.
She said that Nigeria is losing about five kilometers annually to desertification, causing forced migration, loss of farm lands and untold hardship to communities, families; women and children who are most impacted by this hardship.
She said, “Flooding has become a yearly event in Nigeria, I recall news items where mothers have helplessly watched their homes overtaken by flood, farmlands lost and in some cases, like in Akwa Ibom State, a mother struggled to save her toddler from the wave of flood but she lost out to the flood.
“It is therefore a great pleasure that today, the Climate Clock is being launched in Nigeria, the first African nation to have it and women are well represented.”
On his part, Jerome Ringo, said that the decision on which African country to present the climate clock was decided in two seconds.
According to him, Nigeria and Nigerians have potentials to create or possibly solve climate change problems, thus the need for the Federal Government to lead and harness these potentials.
“I recognize that Nigeria is the largest economy on the planet and a lot of innovative youths roam the country. But what really drove me the most about bringing the clock to Nigeria is not where the country is now, but where it is going.
“Nigeria is on a threshold of being the catalyst to begin the movement like no other country in the world. Why, because you suffer the most adverse effects to climate change, it is not the fault of the African people, it is a call to rise and take action towards climate change,” he said.
He said the same clocks is in the White House in US and three European countries, thus making Nigeria among the privileged.
Also, the Chief Executive Officer, Ecologistics Integrated Services Ltd and the African Climate Clock Initiative (ACCI), Dr. Paul Abolo, said that the presentation of the climate clock is a strategic approach to creating awareness for climate action.
Abolo said, “The climate clock happens to be one of those strategies through which we need to draw awareness, sensitisation, about climate action. However, we have decided in Nigeria that the presentation of the climate clock has to go through a strategic approach.
“Regularly, a top down approach is usually adopted but Nigeria said no, we have to adopt a bottom up approach.
“We adopted a approach whereby this clock will go through a climate champion where our youths, women, will have opportunities to see the clock and understand the imports of the clock; until it gets to the presidency, that is the approach Nigeria has adopted to distribute this clock.”
On her part, President, Women in Renewable Energy Association (WIRE-A), Chief Anita Okuribido, said that the climate clock is to demonstrate how quickly the planet is approaching the 1.5℃ of global warming, given current emissions trends.
She added that this also shows the amount of carbon dioxide (CO₂) already emitted, and the global warming to date.
She stressed the need for Nigeria, Africa and the world to arise to the rising challenges of climate change.
She said, “Climate change is a global issue, impacting different parts of the world at varying degrees. Climate change will be the greatest threat to humanity and global ecosystems in the coming years.
“There is a pressing need to understand and communicate the impacts of this change, and make active actionable commitments and contributions to mitigating this crisis. This forms the overarching motivation to Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).”
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