President Buhari makes new appointments

<p><strong>President Muhammadu Buhari appointed and inaugurated the President&comma; of Nigerian Youth Congress &lpar;NYC&rpar; Blessing Akinlosotu as a member of the National Council on Climate Change alongside others&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The inauguration ceremony was coupled with the setting up of the agenda for effective and efficient operation of the council&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Buhari during the inauguration on Wednesday stated that the Council is chaired by the President&comma; Federal Republic of Nigeria&comma; with the Vice President as Vice Chairman&comma; and the Chairman of&comma; the Nigeria Governors’ Forum as a member also&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He further disclosed that&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Other members of the Council are the Ministers responsible for Environment&semi; Petroleum Resources&semi; Budget and National Planning&semi; Justice&semi; Mines and Steel Development&semi; Finance&semi; Agriculture and Rural Development&semi; Power&semi; Women Affairs&semi; Transportation&semi; and Water Resources&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;The Governor of Central Bank&semi; the National Security Adviser&semi; President of Association Local Governments of Nigeria&semi; a representative of the private sector on climate change or environmental related matters &lpar;representative of National Conservation Foundation&rpar;&semi; a representative of National Council on Women Societies&semi; a representative of Nigerian Youth Congress&comma; and a representative of the Civil Society Organisation are also members of the Council&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The President also directed the Attorney General and Minister of Justice in conjunction with the Minister of Environment to initiate appropriate amendments to ”noticeable implementation challenges” inherent in the Act&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Highlighting the losses and damages caused by the recent increasing floods in several parts of the country as well as Pakistan&comma; Bangladesh&comma; and other parts of East and Southern Africa&comma; the President described climate change as one of the biggest challenges facing humanity&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>President Buhari&comma; therefore&comma; reiterated the determination of his Administration to strengthen the national response to climate change and accelerate the implementation of decisive actions to reduce its impacts on the people and economy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He reaffirmed that Nigeria is a party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change&comma; which is an established international treaty to combat &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;dangerous human interference with the climate system”&comma; in part by stabilizing Green House Gas concentrations in the atmosphere&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>”It is against this background that in November 2021&comma; after COP 26 in Glasgow&comma; I signed the Nigeria Climate Change Act despite noticeable implementation challenges inherent in the Act&comma; to set the framework for mainstreaming climate change action&comma; carbon budgeting&comma; and the establishment of the National Council on Climate Change&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>”The council is tasked with the responsibility of formulating appropriate policies and other mechanisms for achieving low Green House Gas emissions&comma; including green growth and sustainable economic development for Nigeria&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>”In a clear demonstration of our commitments as enshrined in our Nationally Determined Contributions and the Net Zero-Target by 2060&comma; I also approved&comma; on 25th July 2022&comma; the appointment of the Director General and Secretary for the National Council on Climate Change&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>”It is imperative therefore that those lapses earlier alluded to – which include the establishment of states and Zonal offices creating a huge and costly bureaucracy are not acceptable&period; The Act also takes out the Commissioners of Environments from the states as members of the Council&comma; it also did not make transitional provisions capturing the work of the Inter-ministerial Working Group&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>”This group was responsible for Energy Transition&comma; the supervisory oversight of the Ministry of Environment&comma; and the establishment of an Executive Management structure at the secretariat level to support the DG in running the Council Secretariat&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>”Accordingly&comma; I hereby direct the Attorney General and Minister of Justice in conjunction with the Minister of Environment to initiate the appropriate amendment to reflect these observations&comma;” Buhari stated&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;