President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday that fighting climate change was not a task any single country could succeed in doing alone.
He noted that to succeed, nations worldwide must collaborate to confront climate change.
Buhari spoke in Katowice, Poland, while addressing the opening session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, better known as COP24.
He cited rising temperatures, desertification, floods, low agricultural yields and drying up of water bodies as some of manifestation of climate change.
For instance, the Nigerian President raised the case of the receding Lake Chad, North-East of Nigeria, where he said communities were already paying a huge price like fall in agricultural activities.
A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, quoted Buhari as saying, ‘‘Obviously, no country can confront the phenomenon alone. In this regard, Nigeria believes in joint and cooperative efforts to tackle the problem.”
‘‘We urge that efforts to address the challenges of climate change be pursued within multi-lateral frameworks. Concerted efforts should be made to strengthen sub-regional and regional organisations to serve as hubs for Climate Action and partnership.”
The President stated that an international conference held in February this year in Abuja looked into the possibility of channeling water from the Congo Basin into the Lake Chad Basin as part of plans to rescue it.
Buhari, on behalf of the member countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, thanked the Italian government for donating 1.5m Euros toward completion of the feasibility studies on the proposed inter-basin water transfer project.
He spoke further, ‘‘I once again call on the international community to support this worthy project, for the benefit of nearly 40 million people that depend on the Lake for their livelihood, and to guarantee future security of the region.
‘‘I will like to reiterate Nigeria’s commitment to constructively supporting multilateral action aimed at addressing climate change.
‘‘We must re-dedicate ourselves to the task of rebuilding and restoring the healthy environment we inherited for future generations.”
