Nigeria’s response to climate shifts attracts US$30m World Bank support

The Federal Government of Nigeria’s response to shifting climatic conditions has attracted US$30 million World Bank support, an official of the bank revealed in Abuja recently. Marie Francoise Marie Nelly, World Bank’s Country Director in Nigeria, who made this revelation during an interactive meeting with Nigeria’s development partners and donors, added that the facility was intended to support the country’s erosion and watershed problems. The country director who was represented at the interactive session by Amos Abuh, a Senior Environmentalist in the World Bank, said “the US$30 million was actually a facility that formed the Component Three of the Nigerian erosion and watershed management project”, adding that the project was that of the government and federal ministry of environment.

According to her, World Bank was using the facility to reaffirm its commitment to supporting Nigeria so that the issue of environment and climate change would be a thing of the past. Laurentia Mallam, the Minister of Environment, noted that the environment was an important aspect of our lives, stressing that without clean and healthy environment, all other sectors would be affected, hence “it is important that Nigerians ensure that there is a conducive environment in the country”.

She assured that the ministry would work with the media to fashion out ways of promoting and ensuring that the core mandate of the ministry in protecting the environment was achieved, adding that the ordinary Nigerian on the street should know what the ministry stood for. Yerima Tafa, a deputy director in the ministry, recalled that a new agreement was adopted by all parties at the Paris Conference of Parties (COP 21) to replace the Kyoto Protocol, which was expected to be in force by 2020. He recalled further that parties at the conference also adopted and agreed on the ‘Lima Call for Climate Change Action’, adding that 19 decisions were adopted while 17 under the COP would help to operationalise the Warsaw international mechanism for loss and damage.