Nigeria Ratifies Amended Agreement On Climate Change

Nigeria has ratified the Doha amendment of the Kyotol protocol on climate change.
Minister of State for Environment, Alhaji Ibrahim Usman disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja. The Minister said that the Protocol concerns the United Nations (UN) framework convention on climate change which is a major global issue across the world.
“This protocol was crafted in 2004 and Nigeria is a party to that and the initial period of commitment of the Kyoto Protocol was from 2008-2012 and that, the new segment now is 2013-2020”.
He maintained that the essence of the protocol was to commit advance countries to mitigate the effect of gas emissions on development countries.
The Minister further stressed that the Doha amendment of the Kyoto Protocol was essentially meant to assist countries like Nigeria that were not producing any significant emission but suffering the consequences.
The essence of this protocol is to commit advanced or developed countries that are mostly industrialised and are at the forefront of production of gas emissions which are harmful to the environment, leading to climate change and therefore causing global problems environmentally.
“So the Doha amendment of the Kyoto Protocol is essentially to assist countries like Nigeria, which are developing and are not producing any significant emission but are suffering the consequences. We are all aware of flooding that we experienced this year and this has been going 2012”.
According to the Minister, by ratifying the protocol, Nigeria and other developing countries stand to gain a lot in form of financial assistance and access to technology.
“The benefit Nigeria stands to gain from this Doha amendment of the Kyoto Protocol is that first of all, once the amendment is ratified as we want it to be, there will be access to financial assistance which will help in motivating and adapting to impact of climate change.
“Secondly, there will be access to technology and capacity building and there will also be networking with other nations and organizations, who are move advanced and can be of help to us as a country.

By: Barizaa Kpbari