A member of the ninth House of Representatives and former chairman House Committee on Climate Change, Sam Onuigbo has harped on the need for Africa, particularly Nigeria to join in the action against climate change by transiting from fossil fuel to renewable energy.
Onuigbo, who sponsored the Climate Change Act signed into law by former President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the press in Abuja on Thursday ahead of COP28 taking place from 30 November to 12 December 2023 in United Arab Emirates.
He said despite being contributing less than four percent of the total global carbon emissions, Africa and indeed Nigeria should not feel too relaxed but join the comity of nations to phase out fossil fuel and adopt renewable energy.
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Responding to a question on why the transition is so important to Africa despite being a low carbon emitter, Onuigbo the South East representative in the Governing Board of the North East Development Commission (NEDC) noted that there is no better time to prepare for transition than now.
While maintaining that Africa despite emitting low carbon feels the effects of climate change greatly, he said developed nations who emit more are rapidly moving towards renewable energy.
Citing a recent working visit to China by members of NEDC governing board in quest for how Nigeria will deeply entrench the use of electricity vehicles, he expressed shock that the country has a factory with 1,000 capacity production of electric vehicle (EV) per day. “The same thing with keke, some about 800, different factories”, he noted.
“Today, China is ahead of everyone in production of electric vehicles and in creating centres, charging points and things like. Mind you, they are one of the highest emitters
“That tells you they are moving. If you check the major markets for African crude oil, the major regions and markets are in China, US, Europe, India and the rest of them.
“When a country like India is also speeding away, even the US is walking away, if Africa and particularly Nigeria fails to transit, who then will be the buyers of the crude we produce?”, he queried.
While citing the Climate Change Act which fixes the transition date between 2050-2070, he said time to begin to transit is now.
“The signs are clear. If we fail to begin the process of transiting, we will be left behind, we will be left with stranded assets”, referring to a possible deterioration of the international oil market.
Onuigbo also applauded President Bola Tinubu for demonstrating commitment towards drawing attention to the need to transit to renewables.
According to the former lawmaker, President Tinubu’s decision to remove subsidy on petroleum is a major boost on the need for people to think renewables.
He also applauded Tinubu for approving the establishment of centres for conversion of cars from fossil fuel-powered to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), a move he said is a positive decision.
He insists that Nigeria must get along now and do what others are doing and prepare for transition to avoid a gloomy future for the country’s economy.
He expressed hope that with this, Nigeria will have a sustainable means of development.
