"Where there is more demand, its expected that the price should be lower. But in Nigerian context, that does not translate to lowered prices, it might even translate to escalated prices. Whereas, in economic senses more users mean price advantages",

A Conversation with Dr. Benard Omoyeni, Chief Environmental Specialist.

www.eiawithbenard.com

Recognized among Africa's foremost environmentalists by notable international institutions, Dr. Benard Omoyeni is a Chief Environmental Specialist[/i] with a multinational oil and gas company, and also MD/CEO at Palmadex Global Integrated Services, an award-winning export company. Lagos. He is the author of the Principles and Application of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)[i], a book pertaining to topical issues concerning our natural environment and practical sustainability for everyone's digest. Dr. Benard is a member of several Environmental affiliated professional bodies, including Nigeria Environmental Society (NES), American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), Institute of Management Consultant (IMC) Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) among others.

If you haven't come across his published works yet, you may likely be among thousands of daily readers that would be educated about environmental sustainability and Climate Change- and how to be part of the solution-- through his website www.eiawithbenard.com or via the social media pages of the same name.

Here, Dr. Benard, discusses his professional opinions concerning the outcome of Nigeria's participation at the recently held COP26 at Glasgow, and why Nigeria's revenue base might begin to dwindle dramatically if Nigeria swallows the pill of the agreement without applicable support on energy transition and green projects, also why Nigeria actually deserves more than the request of 400 billion dollars energy transition/Adaptation Funds towards Climate Change efforts.

What is COP26 all about and where do you fit in all these?

COP26 means Conference of Parties, for a community of nations under United Nations who signed the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change(UNFCCC) that came to force in 1994, with the intent to provide global Framework for managing Climate change issues. The COP
Is held on annual basis and it is hosted by different nations. That's where world leaders gather, because they need to agree on addressing the sources of Climate Change, since it is as a result of human developmental activities that are impacting our environment.

The last edition which was hosted in Glasgow, is the 26th edition, and came up with far reaching decision to cut Greenhouse gas emissions to zero by year 2050,
Greenhouse gas are essentially from from industrial activities, they are emissions that go to degrade the ozone layer. If there must be reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions, there must be agreement and that's why world leaders gather to review the issues and review the strategies to address it. Then review actions that are to be put in place and come up with an agreement.

I come in as an expert to provide proper guidance on proper management that will enhance capacity building

What is the brief of FG's commitment to the agreement on Climate Change?

Nigeria has been part of all the discussions on climate change, right from the Kyoto protocol in 1992. Being part of global efforts to combat climate change, for me is one of the reasons that they came up with the Climate Change Policy of Nigeria. Nigeria's position is as one of the developing nations that believe in "Yes we are in a global world, but we do not contribute the same thing to the issues of Climate Change. As a matter of fact, we are at a disadvantage, you guys are industrialized, we are not".

For instance, talking about loads of emissions from US, the largest pollutant, followed by China, based on their level of development. So if climate change is a result of human induced activities, on our own side, we are contributing less, yet the effect is coming to us.

Nigeria's position remains "We know that there is Climate Change, as for us being a less contributor to this problem, and compared to what you guys are doing, we don't have the resources to combat Climate Change; talking about change in weather regime, biological processes, rainfall patterns, drought for instance resulting in flood shortages, warming up of the earth's temperature, which when increased by 1 degree, will result in melting of polar ice, increasing the volume of water in the south pole, rainfall increasing, and the level of water increasing, such that lowlying areas like VI, which is 5 meters above sea, are prone to being flooded. Including those that normally don't experience flood will begin to experience it.

That's why most parts of Lagos are being flooded and when that happens, environmental impacts such erosion, public health, safety. Flooding could result in wiping out a whole community, causing lost of lives and property, diseases and others, even distorting the farming regime of Agriculture, by impacting farm production and productivity.

All these will impact on food security, resulting in hunger and a lot of deprivation. As a developing nation, we do not have a lot of resources in terms of funds, infrastructure, and since you guys have it, fine, we will support every drive to cut emissions, decabonize ,or netzero but we need your financial support to build resilience and adapt.

Fossil fuel is considered emitter of carbon dioxide, nitrogen sulphur dioxide, methane but If we are not going to use that source of energy to generate power, what can we do? But to move into renewable natural energy such as biogas, solar powered electricity because amount of emissions generated at gas power stations are huge.

Now there are means of calculating these emissions, which is why Nigeria can compare its emission to that of USA, who emit about 4 trillion tons. If we are going into renewable energy, we don't have the money, you are the industrialized nation, all we need is your support, in terms of funding.

Adaptation Funds

Nigeria's position is to support the Climate Change efforts, therefore there is this globally accepted term called "Adaptation Funds". It is when global leaders from industrialized nations put funds together in trillions of dollars, which they can now allocate to the less developed or developing nations to avail means of providing these infrastructures, like solar powered electricity, we need some trillions of naira and we dont have it.

Nigeria's request of 400billion dollars Adaptation Funds is not a loan, it is an incentive to use. We even deserve more than that as part of Adaptation Funds. The developed nations like US, Britain are coming together to see how they can build the trust fund where such funds can be accrued and then, they can be helping the developing nations to meet those obligations.

Otherwise when talking about stopping the use of fossil fuel in the year 2050, if we dont have anything else (substitute) we will continue to use it.

The irony of it all is that we are in global climate, what happens here may go and affect US, because the atmosphere is transnational. So if it were to be one nation, we would not be talking about global efforts. You cannot isolate yourself, talking about increased temperature, of course, temperature will continue to increase and its going to be global. Less developed or developing nations are seeking the support of stronger ones to help them provide alternative source of energy so they can forget about the fossil fuel usage or those energies that will increase emissions of green house gases that deplete the ozone layer


With the government planning to expand usage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), in place of charcoal, fuel, wood and kerosene, hows that looking for the cost of cooking gas?

We are talking about the law of demand and supply here, in the sense that if LPG can be provided for domestic use and stop the usage of charcoal, kerosene, of course there will be more demand for LPG, and where there is more demand, it is expected that the price should lower.

But in Nigerian context, that does not translate to lowered prices, it might even translate to escalated prices. Whereas in economic sense more users mean price advantages. When we talk of environmental benefits, there will be reduction in emissions of fossil fuel, reduction in deforestation, because trees have to be cut to make charcoal, another direct benefit is that kerosene is a byproduct of crude oil.




What will stopping and reversing deforestation spell for the Nigerian economy?

It means environmental sustainability and halting climate change impacts, however it could also mean huge loss of income to a significantpercentageofthepopulation, because looking at Nigeria's population, Agriculture which is a major source of deforestation contributes 24 percent of our GDP, over 70 percent of the population are involved in Agriculture, with a large percentage now depending on forests. Naturally it is said that over 80 percent of the citizens live below poverty line, and the bulk of the population depend on forest resources to make a living. One of the ways to reverse deforestation is to stop the exploitation of forest resources, which automatically means the population depending on forest resources will be left out, and dont have any other means of livelihood given that no alternative source of livelihood has been provided

Now, it is should be about afforestation not just about deforestation ,focus should be on plans to replenish the forest resources and managing it well. It is not about shouting dont cut trees, trees are meant to be cut, but it is for you to put in place plans to replace. Forest resources is renewable. If you plant some tree species, they have grown to harvestable size in the next 6 yeard most trees species grow to maturity in 10 -15 years. So when taking one tree, you can plant two. That should be the thinking, not when people talk about deforestation and say dont cut trees. If you dont cut trees what are you going to cut.

Trees are used for so many things, for furniture especially, is there anyone without furniture in their house? Or roofing and other things in different construction works. So back to the question, by unplanned stopping forest utilization, many people's livelihood will be taken out.


Concerning poverty, poor food production, erosion, flooding, diseases and destruction of properties in Nigeria, dont you think climate change is taking responsibility for the effects of poor government infrastructure and planning.

They are putting them together, climate change is among the reasons for flooding. It's also part of the reasons for disease prevalence, and drought. Poor infrastructure is one of the things Government is managing, in the sense that they are not providing the right infrastructure. They are two things put together. Of course Climate Change is responsible, likewise government's inability to provide the right infrastructure.

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What repercussions can Nigerians expect from limiting the development of gas projects

Some expected repercussions of limiting gas and fossil fuel projects is that the revenue base will dwindle dramatically. Because 85 percent of Nigeria's income is based on fossil fuels, especially Crude oil. So, by saying we are not doing, where else are we getting money from that has been developed as alternative source of income.

So the fundamental impact is that revenue base will dwindle, and that's why there were talks of diversifying Nigeria's economy, for instance, diversifying into exports, investing in agriculture, promoting knowledge based economy, investing in technology, ICT and others. All these have not been done and now there are talks of moving to stop production of fossil fuel, you can't do that now. And that's why Nigeria is saying otherwise. When the world is saying 2050 we stop fossil fuel- at the international level, they will put their conditions.


In what way is cleaner energy superior to fossil fuel and kindly share your thoughts towards Nigeria's transitioning from fossil fuel to cleaner energy

Cleaner energy is superior in the sense that you are reducing or eliminating emissions of noxious gases or pollutant gases or green house gases. Cleaner energy is like using energy that is not making you vulnerable to air pollution. Now, what we are saying here is that the aspect of air pollution is on its own, then aspect of green house gases. It is using energy resources that will eliminate or reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Of course in some cases you have to look at the cost, it may be cost effective and in other cases costlier. It simply depends on what type you are using . Talk about efficiency, I won't say yes, based on Nigeria. You have seen a lot of solar powered lights provided, they dont function the way they are supposed to. Have you seen any around? Are they efficient, we can't answer that question, at least in Nigerian context. But ideally some of these wind turbines used to generate electricity are most beneficial and environmentally sustainable. They are just tapping into wind power, instead of using generators that will be emitting carbon dioxide, this is something natural.

In the case of Impact Mitigation and Adaptation, what can be described as capacity building of individuals, groups and communities?

Capacity building in this case is about knowledge building, sensitization and awareness of the populace. Of even the officials that are saddled with the responsibility of executing some of these strategies.

In Nigeria, we have instruments for follow ups. That's why there are ministries and parastatals, like Federal Ministry of Environment, who is the main supervisory ministry, but from there, we may now have department for Climate Change, who may be saddled with the responsibility to coordinate the policy, to interpret and integrate. Then begin to come up with how to domesticate this to different levels, like we have the Federal, state and local government.

What do we have to do to ensure our industries limit their emissions? Its about the government to come up with policies and then the policies can be enactment of laws, like for every cubit feet of gas being flared, you are going to pay a fine of 100$, which is in force within the industry. There are various environmental laws administered by multilateral agencies, but there seems to be gaps in enforcement and implementation.

We are saying stop flaring and therefore, force those industries to execute projects that will convert the gases they are flaring. Because gas flaring is a major source of greenhouse, ensure the manufacturing sectors and industries are in compliance with environmental laws that addresses gas emissions of pollutants. The reason flared gas are not converted to Liquified Natural Gas, are also capital intensive, which need funds to execute such projects, not just bottling and converting it. Everything is a function of cost, policy, commitment and enforcement. In Nigeria, there are instruments of government used to follow up. The government can abide with all their COP Agreements and protocols with the support of the stronger nations and government political will.

Which prominent organizations serves as a watchdog for environmental policies and activities being initiated?

When we look at the Environmental watchdogs that enforce implementation of these policies, I can say of the United Nations, who have subsidiaries like the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), though they do not have statutory power to actually sanction a nation for not implementing the agreement, but at the UN general assembly or higher levels, some of these can be implemented. Here the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has jurisdiction over international environmental laws.

But so far so good, to the best of my knowledge, I'm not sure a nation has been sanctioned for not complying. Its just nice to have agreement, so as to note what necessary can be enforced per se, because everything is based on science- that is, what will happen if we dont follow through. So who is enforcing compliance? There is no statutory body, the United Nations do it as treaties, agreements and advocacy to plead and come up with policy, but not necessarily enforcing them to compliance.

400 billion in usd… what in the ever loving Bleep would anyone in this country much less the government need that kind of money for in practicality? we’re poor but there’s a limit to how much money is actually needed to run the country before it just becomes a matter of excessive spending for the sake of hedonistic virtue

Makes you wonder which way Nigeria

@Lalasticlala @Mynd44 @seun