By Egena Sunday Ode
The North-West is targeting N20 billion in climate financing over the next four years to tackle flooding, drought, migration and other climate-related challenges in the region.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North-West), Abdullahi Tanko Yakasai, disclosed this on Monday at the inaugural North-West Climate Summit held at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Yakasai said the summit also unveiled plans to establish a regional climate marketplace and train 10,000 youths as part of a broader strategy to build climate resilience in the zone.
According to him, the initiative is built on three pillars: a climate marketplace, a climate academy and a climate fund.
He explained that the climate marketplace will serve as a platform for states and local governments in the region to showcase climate programmes and projects to development partners, financial institutions and local investors.
The platform, he said, will help connect subnational governments with partners willing to support interventions aimed at addressing climate change.
On the second pillar, Yakasai said the Climate Academy will train 10,000 youths across the seven states of the North-West on climate resilience, climate action and environmental sustainability.
He said the third pillar, the climate fund, is targeting N20 billion over four years to finance interventions in flooding, drought, renewable energy and other climate-related challenges.
Yakasai said the fund will be mobilised through his office in collaboration with partners, to support community-level climate interventions across the region.
He noted that climate change has become a major global concern, adding that the North-West must position itself to benefit from growing global climate-financing opportunities, especially post-COVID-19.
He listed flooding, drought, farmer-herder migration, dry-season losses and poor access to renewable energy among the critical challenges the initiative seeks to address.
Yakasai said the summit was organised in partnership with the North-West Governors’ Forum and the North-West Development Commission, describing it as the first regional climate summit and climate marketplace of its kind in Nigeria.
On alignment with global efforts, he said outcomes from the regional summit would feed into Nigeria’s participation at the forthcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP).
He added that work on the initiative began last year, with the broader goal of mobilising resources, strengthening partnerships and delivering practical climate solutions for the North-West.
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