The Nigerian government has rejected calls for phase-out fossil fuels, an issue emerged as one of the most topical at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Summit in Dubai, UAE.
“It is unacceptable to ask Nigeria or Africa to phase out fossil fuels,” said Ishaq Salako, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Environment.
He likened the clamour for phasing out of fossil fuels to asking a sick patient to breathe without life support. The Nigerian economy heavily depends on fossil fuels – petroluem.
Fossil fuels are responsible for over 75 per cent of GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emissions that cause climate change. At the Climate Change conference, parties need to reach a consensus.
On Sunday’s first draft text of the Global Stocktake (GST), countries were asked to phase out fossil fuels. It met several pushbacks from OPEC and Nigeria.
Gabriel Aduda, Permanent Secretary at Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources, took to X (former Twitter), saying, “Section 35(c,d,e) of the draft COP28 GST Negotiations are a NO – NO… We all must say NO to the politics of climate change that seeks to phase out funding and development-related issues of fossil fuels.”
He added in a separate post that fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, are crucial for sustainable development, and the focus (of COP28) should be on reducing emissions from fossil fuels, not phasing down or out.
Further negotiations and modifications saw the tweaking of the text’s language on Monday. “Reducing both consumption and production of fossil fuels, in a just, orderly and equitable manner so as to achieve net zero by, before, or around 2050 in keeping with the science,” the current text reads.
Scientists insist it is impossible to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as called for in the 2015 Paris Agreement, without eventually eliminating the use of fossil fuels.
Credit: premiumtimesng.com
