President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday that fighting climate change was not a task any single country could succeed in doing alone.
He noted that to succeed, nations worldwide must collaborate to confront climate change.
Buhari spoke in Katowice, Poland, while addressing the opening session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, better known as COP24.
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A statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu, quoted as Buhari citing rising temperatures, desertification, floods, low agricultural yields and drying up of water bodies as some of the manifestations of climate change.
For instance, the Nigerian President raised the case of the receding Lake Chad, North-East of Nigeria, where he said communities were already paying a huge price like fall in agricultural activities.
‘‘Obviously, no country can confront the phenomenon alone. In this regard, Nigeria believes in joint and cooperative efforts to tackle the problem.
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‘‘We urge that efforts to address the challenges of climate change be pursued within multilateral frameworks. Concerted efforts should be made to strengthen sub-regional and regional organisations to serve as hubs for Climate Action and partnership.”
On the Lake Chad, Mr Buhari informed the summit that up to 40million lives were at the risk of extinction if it completely dried up. He expressed Nigeria’s commitment to rescue the lake.
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The President stated that an international conference held in February this year in Abuja looked into the possibility of channelling water from the Congo Basin into the Lake Chad Basin as part of plans to rescue it.
Mr Buhari, on behalf of the member countries of the Lake Chad Basin Commission, commended the Italian Government for donating 1.5 million Euros toward the completion of the feasibility studies on the proposed inter-basin water transfer project.
