Dr Abubakar Mahmood, the Minister of Environment, has urged advanced countries to fulfill their commitment to climate funding to African countries.
A statement signed by Mr Saghir el-Mohammed, the Ministry;’s Director of Press, indicated that the minister made the call at the ongoing COP 25 in Madrid, Spain being organized by Islamic Development Bank on Climate Finance.
He observed that developed countries were the major pollutants of the climate, urging them to fulfill their promises of providing more climate funds to developing nations.
“I share the sentiments of other African countries of not getting enough climate funds,” he said.
Mahmood expressed optimism that Nigerian delegates to COP 25 would negotiate to get as much climate funds as possible.
He said at the same time Nigeria would be innovative to generate its own green funds.
“We will do whatever it takes in our own capacity to see that we acquire as much as we can while at the same time be as innovative as we can to generate our own green fund internally,” Mahmood said.
He added that climate financing required the cooperation of many countries for global survival.
“We will aim as high as we can. This is something many countries are aiming at; it is a global cooperation for survival because we belong to one planet.
“Whatever happens in Nigeria can affect America and vice-versa.
The minister urged nations across the globe to give adequate attention to the issue of climate change due to its threat to the peace and development of the world.
“Every single nation, either near the ocean or in the desert needs to do something about climate adaptation, mitigation, resilient and nationally determine contributions in addressing climate change.
“There are common denominators in the climate change issue that every country across the globe must do something about, and Nigeria is not an exception.
“We have been very active in climate adaption and we will continue to progress in this regard to contribute to global efforts at ameliorating climate change threats.”
He stated that the federal government had not relented in its effort toward Nigeria’s Nationally Determine Contributions (NDC) to tackle climate change as a lot had been done.
