Reps Pass Climate Change Bill

Worried by effects of climate change on economic development, the House of Representatives has revisited the Climate Change Bill, which was passed by the 8th National Assembly but rejected by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The House passed the bill, which seeks to create a National Council on Climate Change to be headed by the President with Vice President as Vice Chairman while drawing members from the 36 States and other relevant agencies of government.

Addressing newsmen on Tuesday on the passage of the bill, its Sponsor, Sam Onuigbo, said all the contentious clauses cited by Buhari for his refusal to sign the bill have been reviewed by a Joint Review Committee sanctioned by Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila.

The committee, he said, has Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN) and the Ministry of Environment as members.

He said passage of the bill was a clear indication of the commitment of House to work with the Executive to implement provisions of the Paris agreement on climate change as well as support determination of the President to fight climate change.

The lawmaker expressed happiness the House considered and adopted the report on the bill, which he said will be transmitted to the Senate for concurrence.

Onuigbo said: “Nigeria and the rest of the world face a huge existential challenge due to the impacts of climate change such as drought, coastal and gully erosion, health challenges, desertification with the attendant food shortages and forced migration that has led to insecurity, etc.

“As experts have said, the situation is so bad that if urgent actions are not taken to reduce the volume of Greenhouse Gases in the atmosphere, the world as we know it will be completely destroyed in a matter of decades due to the catastrophic impacts of climate change.

“It is this awareness of the danger of climate change that motivated me to sponsor the Climate Change Bill in the 8th Assembly.

“The objective was to ensure that Nigeria has a legal framework that will help coordinate its efforts at climate change mitigation and adaptation. Although the bill was passed by the National Assembly and duly transmitted to the President, he declined assent due to a number of reasons.

“With this clear conviction, I reviewed the bill and re-sponsored it in this Assembly. I called you all together today to brief you on the progress we have made towards ensuring that Nigeria gets a climate change law.”