FUEL SUBSIDY: NIGERIA TO SAVE 15 MILLION TONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS YEARLY
One of the resultant effects of the removal of the subsidy on the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is the reduction of over 15 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
This was disclosed by the Vice President, Senator Kasim Shettima at an event to Unpack the Outcomes of the Fifty-Eight Sessions of the Subsidiary Bodies (SB-58) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) held in Abuja.
According to the Vice President, “Preliminary analysis conducted by the National Council on Climate Change on the co-benefits of fuel subsidy removal indicate about 30% reduction in daily fuel consumption, amounting to about 20 million liters, equivalent to an estimated daily saving of 42,800 tons of carbon dioxide emissions (CO2e). When projected over a period of one year, it amounts to over 15 million tons of CO2e saved.”
The Vice President who was represented by his deputy chief of staff, Senator Ibrahim Hassan said that Nigeria as a developing nation is gravely impacted by the negative effects of climate change, as the country is ranked as one of the ten most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change in the world.
“This is despite our negligible contribution to overall global carbon emissions. In fact, Africa as a whole, accounts for less than 4% of total global Carbon emissions,” he said.
According to the Vice President Nigerians, currently live with various impacts of climate change such as drought and desertification, disruption of rainfall patterns, leading to sandstorms, severe floods, destruction of farmlands, infrastructure and human settlements.
The Vice President therefore directed the National Council on Climate Change to develop a Comprehensive Climate Change Adaptation Project for Flood Management in Nigeria.
He said, ” The Climate Change Adaptation Project should include resuscitation of the Lake Chad Basin.”
Vice President Shettima said the project would also help in the implementation of climate change activities under the country’s NDC, and achieve Nigeria’s long term climate goals, that include net zero carbon emissions by 2060.
The Director General of the National Council on Climate Change Dr. Salisu Dahiru described the event as a meeting to take stock of previous engagements as well as to prepare Nigeria for the Twenty-Eighth UN Climate Change Conference of Parties (COP 28), to be held in the United Arab Emirates.
The former Chairman, House of Representatives committee on Climate Change, Sam Onuigbo urged participants in the event to ensure that the nation’s priorities are escalated in the negotiations at Dubai later in the year.
There were representations from ECOWAS, British High Commission, United Nations, US Embassy Climate Office among others.