RANDOM THOTS
Never take the climate for granted. More than 28 years ago, when this reporter was sweating over the various aspects of Climatology in the Department of Geography (O.A.U., Ile-Ife), the biggest fear of climate in town then was sporadic flooding and some desertification. Now the climate scenario, both local and global, is worse and really scary. Just like corruption in Nigeria, the climate is fighting back and it is fighting dirty.
To underline the effect of climate change, the Paris Agreement was adopted on 12 December, 2015 at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Paris from 30 November to 13 December, 2015. Nigeria’s PMB was at the global event, which was widely reported.
The Paris Accord, a global agreement on reduction of climate change, represented a consensus of the 196 parties who attended the conference in France. On 22 April 2016 (Earth Day), 174 countries signed the agreement in New York, and began adopting it within their own legal systems (through ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession). According to the UNFCCC, Nigeria signed the Agreement on 22 September, 2016, ratified it on 16 May 2017, and it entered into force on 15 Jun 2017.
A cynical colleague recently asserted that the US is presently facing hurricanes because the global superpower pulled out of the Paris Agreement. But, Nigeria, which didn’t pull out, is now beset by flooding in Benue and Kogi States, erosion in the East, and desertification in the Northern region. The bottom line is that climate change is here to stay and each nation must prepare for the unexpected from nature. This nation must act faster against climate change effects, or face the dire consequences…stark reality
– Abimbola Akosile
