By Mashe Umaru Gwamna
The Minister of Environment Mohammed Abdullahi said his ministry has been able to create 85,848 direct and indirect jobs through the implementation of various citizens oriented projects and programmes.
The Minister made the disclosure yesterday in Abuja while making his presentation at the 8th edition series of PMB scorecard for 2015-2023
Abdullahi said the ministry is actively collaborate with the private sector to create a large number of well-paying jobs for Nigerian youths.
The Minister revealed that the Ministry of Environment has paid the sum of N8.6 billion into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as it firmed up its internally generated revenue strategy.
He added that it also implemented a strategy towards the realization of the President’s June 12 promise to take 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years.
On the ongoing implementation of the Ogoni Clean-up, he explained that the Ministry, conscious of the need to ensure effective and timely implementation of the UNEP report on the exercise and in line with President Buhari’s commitment, has remediated 21 sites covering about 230 hectares out of the 65 sites reported in the UNEP report fact sheet.
Speaking on Climate Change, the minister explained that
the most significant action taken towards playing our role in climate change mitigation and adaptation is the signing of the Climate Change Act into law by Mr. President, in November 2021 and the subsequent establishment of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) as well as the appointment of an administrative machinery for a 5 year renewable tenure.
“ Nigeria participated in the Twenty-Seventh Session of the Conference of Parties (COP 27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt from the 6th to 20th November 2022 in line with its obligations as a Party to the UNFCCC.
“The National Statement by Mr. President which reiterated Nigeria’s commitment to net zero by 2060 based on its detailed plan of action and a strong call for loss and damage finance and initiatives was presented at the High-Level segment of the Conference; and indeed served as a strong moral statement that influenced the outcome of agreement reached on the subject matter”,he said.
Consequent upon the acceptability of the loss and damage, the AfDB pledged $25 billion for climate adaptation fund for Africa.
He also spoke on the contributions to the AFR100 initiative, saying
AFR100 is a collective pledge by African countries to restore 100 million hectares of degraded landscapes as contribution to the Bonn Challenge.
The Bonn Challenge is a global resolve to restore 150 million hectares of degraded forest landscape by 2020 and 350 million by 2030.
“Each country is given the opportunity to make its own commitment. Last year Nigeria made a commitment to restore 4 Million hectares by 2030 through various afforestation initiatives”.
He said the Ministry has so far restored over 1 million hectares of degraded forest land in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Jigawa, Katsina, Bauchi, Gombe, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi and Kano.
“A total of 6,550,056 seedlings were raised and distributed to various state governments and institutions under the Forestry Trust Fund Initiative”.
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