Reps Promise Strong Legal Backing For Nigeria’s Decarbonisation Plan

By Alkassim Bala Tsakuwa, Abuja

The House of Representatives has promised to enact strong legislations to provide a comprehensive legal framework for Nigeria’s national decarbonisation programme to strengthen the country’s climate transition agenda.

Chairman of the House Committee on Mandatory National Decarbonisation, Hon. Sesi Whingan, disclosed this while briefing journalists after a stakeholders’ roundtable on the national decarbonisation programme held at the National Assembly on Thursday.

He noted that although Nigeria already operates under the Climate Change Act 2021, the proposed National Decarbonisation Bill is intended to complement existing initiatives and strengthen the country’s climate governance architecture.

He revealed that the bill has already passed first and second readings in the House and is expected to proceed to a public hearing before the end of the month.

Hon. Winghan added that the legislation would support the work of the National Council on Climate Change and harmonise various energy transition plans being implemented across different sectors of the economy.

He said, “We decided to bring all of them into a room and currently we are working on a bill, which is the national decarbonisation bill.

“This bill is to complement what NCCC is currently doing and we have gone through the first and second reading and hopefully before the end of the month we should be moving towards the public hearing.

“Our plan is to further engage stakeholders to see how we can bring all these policies and programmes of the government and incorporate them into a workable and achievable framework.”

The lawmaker said the stakeholders at the roundtable which included representatives from the organised private sector, the oil and gas industry, environmental groups and other actors are involved in climate and energy governance at the federal and state levels.

He emphasised that adequate funding would be critical to achieving the objectives of the decarbonisation programme, calling for closer collaboration between the executive and legislative arms of government to create a clear investment pathway.

The lawmaker added, “We all agreed that there is a need for strong collaboration between the executive and the legislature so that investors, both within and outside the country, can clearly understand the direction Nigeria is taking in its decarbonisation efforts”.

He also stressed the need to take the decarbonisation campaign beyond policy discussions at the federal level by actively involving state governments and local communities.

Hon. Whingan disclosed that the committee plans to convene a national carbon summit in June, bringing together representatives from the 36 states and the 774 local government areas to deepen engagement on the proposed framework.

According to him, the ongoing consultations and the forthcoming public hearing were aimed at ensuring that all stakeholders contribute to shaping a robust and inclusive decarbonisation law for the country.

The lawmaker added, “There is no way we can achieve significant progress if local communities are not involved. We must move beyond conversations at the top and take the programme down to the grassroots”.

He informed that, the committee was established to review Nigeria’s existing climate laws and policies, audit the country’s emission profile across sectors, and determine the institutional, fiscal and technological requirements needed to implement a compulsory nationwide decarbonisation scheme.

According to him, the committee is also engaging ministries, government agencies, state governments, industries, civil society organisations and international partners to ensure the proposed framework aligns with global best practices.

He added that the panel is equally assessing potential barriers, risks and socio-economic implications that may arise from implementing the programme.

Whingan noted that the engagement with stakeholders was designed to gather diverse perspectives that would shape a workable and inclusive legislative framework for the country’s decarbonisation efforts.

He said, “Our mandate includes reviewing existing climate laws and policies, auditing Nigeria’s emission profile and sectoral reduction plans, and consulting with relevant stakeholders to determine the institutional and technological requirements for a nationwide decarbonisation programme”.

On his part, Lead Consultant to the Ad-hoc Committee on the National Mandatory National Decarbonisation Programme, Akintoye Akindele, said the roundtable was organised to ensure that all relevant stakeholders contribute to shaping the proposed legislation.

Akindele added that the committee was creating a platform for stakeholders to submit their inputs before the legislative process progresses further.

He said, “So part of the agenda today was to bring everybody together, all stakeholders. Everyone was invited from the organised private sector, from oil and gas, even from the ministry of environment. Everybody was represented in the stakeholder session where we got inputs across board.

“So before the committee goes ahead, they will definitely hear from everybody and right now, it means the committee is putting up a platform for stakeholders to submit their various inputs.”