Author Archives: sppnigeria

Humans have established communities and flourished around sources of clean, drinkable water since the beginning of time; It is vital to our survival. British poet W. H. Auden once noted, “Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.” Yet while we all know water is crucial for life, we trash it anyway.

Water pollution is the cause of a long chain of illnesses. Infectious diseases can easily be spread through contaminated water. Some of these water-borne diseases are Typhoid, Cholera, Paratyphoid Fever, Dysentery, Jaundice, Amoebiasis and Malaria, to least a very few.

The health consequences alone of water pollution is quite remarkable, and is evident all around the globe so that last year alone, deaths from dirty water and related diseases is 3,393,156.

The problem of unclean water, to the extent of being unsafe, is more prevalent in developing countries, and is manifest almost everywhere in Nigeria.

In Abuja, the capital city, as a result of Increased human activities, the accidental and intentional dumping of pollutants, the Jabi lake, the only water body available to fun-seeking citizens with the metropolis is witnessing more than a fair share of water pollution; the fringes of the lake is unsightly, having been littered dense with all types of garbage, mostly plastic soft drink containers. Plastic pollution threatens food safety and quality, human health, coastal tourism, and contributes to climate change.

Without intervention, the challenges of pollution on the Jabi Lake will only increase as the demand for freshwater and eco goods and services also increase for communities whose source of livelihood is from the lake.

One of the most effective ways to stand up for our waters is to act, and speak out, in support of the Clean Water Rule. In compliance, on Saturday, the 6^th of February, 2021, the Society for Planet and Prosperity (SPP), a Non-Governmental Organisation registered in Nigeria, visited the Jabi lake with volunteers and well-wishers to conduct a cleaning exercise.

At the end of the event which received tremendous support from members of the fishing community, the organisation was able to remove more than forty sack-full of waste from the water body, the fringes of the lake and its surroundings.

The Society for Planet and Prosperity (SPP), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), on Saturday began cleanup at Jabi Lake fishing area in the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT).

Mr Oghenemere Orugbo, Executive Director of the organisation who supervised the exercise said that the aim was to create awareness on the dangers of living in a filthy environment.

Orugbo said that the operation was determined to rid the environment of heaps of refuse.

He said the organisation wanted to ensure that people living in the area were free from contracting diseases, mosquito bite and other reptiles.

“It will also help to develop the community.

“The Jabi lake cleanup which became imperative is occasioned by the unacceptable amount of waste, mostly plastic waste carelessly dumped into the lake.

“The waste are dropped by fun-seekers and residents around the only lake situated within Abuja metropolis.

“The cleanup is basically the physical removal of plastic and other waste materials collected in cellophane bags, and for proper disposal.

“Participants were drawn from a pool of volunteers, members and trustees of the organisation, as well as our well-wishers,’’ Orugbo explained.

He said that the organisation decided to choose Jabi lake for the cleanup because it was the only lake in Abuja metropolis and the most popular location for fun-seekers in the FCT.

Orugbo said the organisation was also planning to conduct a survey and documentary on air pollution by quarries within the FCT.

He added that the SPP would educate people on the dangers of tree cutting and several other climate change education and awareness campaigns for selected schools in the country.

The executive director advised the government to collaborate with other relevant stakeholders for effective protection of the environment in the country.

He also urged residents to always ensure that the environment was clean and healthy to prevent sicknesses and diseases.

Mr Prince Kennedy Ahanotu, Director, Administration and Finance of the organisation said the NGO would continue to visit the lake in order to ensure the environment remained clean and healthy.

Ahanotu assured the community of the organisation`s full support and good working relationship to achieve a healthy and cleaner environment.

Also, Alhaji Abdullahi Mohammed, Secretary to Fishermen Community, who spoke on behalf of the community, thanked the organisation for its good gesture, adding that the effort had encouraged the residents to do what was right.

Mohammed appealed to the government and other relevant stakeholders to support the NGO by providing sanitary facilities and other necessary items needed to ensure that the environment remained clean.

He said that the effort would help to protect the residents from contracting diseases and bring about development in the area.

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Abuja, 8th December, 2020. The ECOWAS Commission is facilitating the development of climate change projects in order to help in the establishment of a pool of national experts in Member States.

To this end, a four-Day training workshop began in Abuja, Nigeria on the 8th of December, 2020 to promote, among others, the sustainable management of resources for improving the regional economy while respecting the environment.

Besides supporting Nigeria through the training of a pool of experts on climate change projects development, the Workshop also aims to facilitate the implementation of the initial activities of the regional climate change adaptation programme.

At the opening of the Workshop, the ECOWAS’ Commission’s Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources, Mr. Sekou Sangare who spoke through the Director, environment and Natural Resources Dr. Johnson Boanuh, restated the importance of the training in assisting national experts to develop climate projects and access Green Climate Funds (GCF).

According to him, the adoption of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015 marked an important turning point in the process of combating climate change. He however admitted the existence of challenges in accessing several funds.

He said it was in order to assist countries to overcome the challenges, that the ECOWAS Commission “initiated in 2015, several capacity building programs for Designated National Authorities on procedures for accessing said funds, in particular the Green Climate Fund and the Adaptation Fund”.

He noted further that with the coming on board of a new approach, the workshop will make it possible for the ECOWAS’ Member States to have a pool of experts who can support the Designated National Authorities in the coordination of projects and programs development, with the various development actors aimed at mobilizing resources from existing climate funds.

He expressed gratitude to the Swedish Cooperation and the European Union for their provision of financial and technical support in the conduct of the training in the ECOWAS countries.
The goodwill message of the Nigerian ministry of Environment was given by the representative of the Director, Department of Climate Change Mrs. Benny Ejiofor who noted among others, that the entire globe was at a defining moment in its history.

From changing weather patterns that threaten food security, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, she emphasized that the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale, such that “if drastic and decisive actions are not taken now, coping with these impacts in the future will be more difficult and costly”

An overview of the Workshop’s goals was given by the project coordinator at the ECOWAS Commission’s climate change Directorate Mr. Konan Raoul Kouame. Participants were urged to carefully follow the modules and help to boost the efforts already made by Nigeria in accessing the resources of the Green Climate Fund in particular.

Developing countries need green investment to recover from the COVID recession and meet the climate challenge.

This was the key message from world leaders during the opening of the three-day Green Climate Fund (GCF) Private Investment for Climate Conference.

Highlighting the importance of COVID-19 recovery decisions taken now, United Nations Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed said the twin COVID-19 and climate crises offer the world an opportunity to chart a new path of sustainable development.

“The recovery from the pandemic has to be an opportunity that creates jobs, that closes our gender gap and reduces the inequalities,” She said. “But it must also put us on track to meet our climate targets.”

“The important work of the Green Climate Fund is required more than ever as we accelerate the decarbonisation of the global economy, and we try to strengthen resilience and adaptation across the developing world,” the Deputy Secretary General added.

Senegal President Macky Sall shared his strategy for a green energy transition in Senegal in the era of COVID-19.

“Harnessing green financing will enable Senegal’s recovery plan to boost our renewable energy supply,” he stated.

“Universal energy access must be an important part of the recovery plan”, he added, stressing the need to link sustainable development goals with economic recovery from the pandemic.

Nobel economic prize winner Professor Joseph Stiglitz stated “Green investments are timely, labour intensive, targeted, have large multipliers…[they] can and should be a central part of the recovery packages… they enable us to not only recover from the pandemic, they enable us to recover greener, with more equality, with more resilience.”

Christiana Figueres, Founder of Global Optimism and ex-Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC compared COVID and climate to massive waves crashing on a beach and called for an injection of capital from global economies that is both green and socially inclusive.

Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Finance, Indonesia, stated, “The implementation of green recovery will be the driver for the world’s economic transformation. Indonesia has been, and will continue to be, committed to reducing our carbon emissions in addition to achieving a climate-resilient nation.”

Launching a new working paper on how to increase green investment in the face of COVID and climate challenges, GCF Executive Director Yannick Glemarec stated,

“The Covid-19 pandemic has brought us to a tipping point or a turning point in our fight against climate change. Decisions taken by leaders today to revive their economies will either entrench our dependence on fossil fuels or put us on a path to achieve the Paris Agreement and the SDGs.”

GCF has brought together leaders in the business and public sectors for its third annual private sector-focused conference to explore new ways to collaborate with businesses to fund climate action in developing countries.

The forum is designed to tap the entrepreneurial energies of businesses large and small to create new sustainable markets and to resolve the climate finance paradox. This involves finding ways to redirect the trillions of dollars currently earning negative interest rates towards financing developing countries’ green, resilient COVID-19 recovery focusing on climate action.