By Cecilia Ologunagba
LIMA (PERU) – Nigeria on Monday in Lima, Peru insisted it would continue to invest in low carbon development using a cleaner energy system.
Dr Samuel Adejuwon, the Director, Climate Change and Adaptation Department, Federal Ministry of Environment, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the ongoing 12-day climate talks.
Adejuwon, who spoke on Nigeria’s position, said that Nigeria would not jeopardise its economic and political interests as well as its quest for development, but would continue to fulfill its obligations to the Kyoto Protocol.
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“This is very critical to us because any agreement that is coming from climate change negotiation, we must make sure that we are not short-changed.
“We must make sure that things are going on for us, our positions are properly being managed.
“Let me give you an instance: in the discussion of finance under the ‘Durban Platform’, there is a particular section that is referring to Nigeria, not Nigeria alone but oil producing countries, that oil exporting developing countries should be paying tax to the developed countries.
“That doesn’t augur well for us. If we are exporting, we are already paying tax but if you now want to make it as a source of finding finance to implement climate change activities, it means we are likely to undergo double taxation.
“We should phase down investment on low carbon development and we should remove fuel subsidy. All these are not too good both for the political situation in Nigeria and for socio-economic development.
“We cannot just phase down, we have to develop. The only thing is that we have to be mindful of that we are using cleaner technology in our developmental endeavours not that we should phase down our investment in low carbon development.
“We should invest but in a cleaner energy system.’’
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Adejuwon said that the negotiation of the Ad hoc Committee on the Durban Platform would transform into another climate change agreement in Paris in 2015, at COP 21.
He told NAN that delegates from Nigeria had been participating in the negotiation process in order to fulfill part of the country’s obligation to the Kyoto protocol.
According to him, one of the obligations is continuous participation in the negotiation, elaboration of those instruments that have been adopted and those that are potentially expected to be adopted in France.
He said delegates from Nigeria had been participating actively in the negotiations under science and technology talks.
“These are the bodies that Nigerians have been part and parcel of to see to their coming into existence and there are still some issues under them that are being implemented and need further elaboration.
“We need to negotiate whether they have been properly done or not. If not, we have to raise issues.
“We are also developing our capacity as a nation in the process of negotiations; it exposes us to various sorts of arguments.
“Therefore, officers from the department of climate change, officers from other inter-ministerial committees and some other NGOs and academia are enhancing their capacity and knowledge in the process, therefore, preparing them for future work on behalf of the country,“ he said.
NAN reports that the 12-day COP 20 is expected to lay the foundation for an effective new, universal climate change agreement.
The conference is expected to take up the prospects of putting the world on the pathway to a comprehensive climate agreement to the COP 21 meeting coming up in Paris, France in 2015. (NAN)
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