By Our Correspondent
The Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI) has urged agencies of governments at all levels to depeen investments, financing, on climate change programmes in the country.
APRI’s National Focal Point Officer, Mr. Chibuikem Agbaegbu made the call in Abuja at a dialogue and collaboration on mainstreaming climate action into Nigeria’s development plan.
The programme was organised by APRI with the support of the Africa Climate Foundation, a philanthropy that supports interventions on climate change and development .
Agbaegbu, in his remarks said the global realities of climate change means that the landscape for finance and global geopolitics was changing significantly.
He said accessing finance from the global north, plans that do not have climate action in view are finding it more difficult to attract financing.
Agbaegbu said there was need for governments to demonstrate concrete efforts on mainstreaming climate to attract level of climate finance and investments required to support its climate ambition.
This, he said includes clear policy direction and alignment, effective stakeholder coordination and collaboration.
According to him, there is the need to increasingly improve enabling environment for climate investments in the country.
He, however, said despite the drive for climate financing and investment, the energy transition mapping eeport, prepared by APRI for the government, clearly identified lack of adequate coordination across government.
He also identified policy incoherence, poor planning and misaligned stakeholder interests, as underlying challenges.
He said APRI’s engagements with senior policy makers across government indicate significant levels of frustration at their inability to attract or access pools of climate finance, largely due to the challenges.
He said the research briefs, which would be discussed was one out of several efforts by APRI in providing evidence-based insights to inform government and key stakeholders on ways to improve policy coherence between Nigeria’s sectorial policies and initiatives, and its climate policies and initiatives.
“With the growing need to attract climate finance for Nigeria’s sustainable development and climate resilience, we need to demonstrate across sectors that we are making intentional efforts to mainstream climate into our economic development plans.
“In order for us to do this, we need to reflect internally and evaluate actionable pathways for Nigeria’s Low Net Emissions Growth across sectors.
“Pathways that do not compromise on our development priorities, and that also incorporate resilience in the realities of foreseeable climate impacts.
He expressed believe that the knowledge and insights to be generated from the dialogue would be useful in informing all key actors in shaping and implementing Nigeria’s climate transition.
High point of the event was presentation of papers on mainstreaming climate action into Nigeria’s budget and economic planning.
Other papers presented by were mainstreaming climate action into Nigeria’s agriculture and food security, mainstreaming climate change and Nigeria’s Foreign Policy and relations among other presentations.
