Joseph Bakare/Hyacinth Chinweuba
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Paris urged developed countries to make strong financial commitments to the $14 billion urgently needed to revive the Lake Chad Basin.
The president stated this at a high level meeting on “Climate change challenges and solutions in Africa”, on the sidelines of the UN Climate Change Conference, COP 21.
Femi Adesina, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, quoted the president as saying that the assistance, when offered, would save communities depending on the river from extinction.
President Buhari said no fewer than five million people living in the Lake Chad Basin countries had been displaced by the depletion of the lake due to climate change.
He said the shrinkage of Lake Chad, a former island sea, had resulted in increased social conflicts, high rates of migration and cross border movements.
“Nigeria has a large population of over 170 million people and in some parts of Northern Nigeria, a farm that used to belong to 10 people now belongs to over 100 people.
“They have no other place to live and no land for cultivation,” he said.
Buhari recalled that a research conducted by a professor in a London university and published more than three decades ago had predicted that “unless one or some of the rivers from the Central African region are diverted to empty into the Lake Chad basin, the river will dry up.”
According to him, sadly, the prediction has become reality as the lake which covers over 25,000 square kilometres in 1925 has shrunk to 2,500 square kilometres.
“The amount of resources required and the high technological expertise and infrastructure needed to be undertaken to revive the Lake Chad has to be mainly financed by the G7 and the United States.
“The cost is great and more than 14 billion dollars is needed to revive the lake.
“But if that is achieved, at least five million people from Central African Republic to the Lake Chad Basin countries (Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin) will be rehabilitated.
“When this is done those who are daring to cross the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean to come to Europe will remain at home because they have land where they can cultivate and earn a respectable living,” he said.
The president reiterated his appeal to leaders from the developed countries to make revival of the lake a top priority.
On Nigeria’s plans to tackle climate change, Buhari told the meeting, attended by the French President, UN Secretary-General and several African leaders, that the country was blessed with natural gas to boost the country’s energy needs.
He said the technology to optimally utilise natural gas in the country was expensive.
“Nigeria welcomes international partnerships and initiatives for lower carbon in the oil and gas sector that focuses on reducing natural gas flaring and capturing the product for commercial use.”
While recognising the acute threats that climate change posed to Nigeria’s development, President Buhari said his administration was ready to embrace several opportunities presented by the challenges posed by climate change.