2022 Budget: Climate change law will provide alternative revenue for govt — Onuigbo

Posted by FN Editor | 2 years ago | 637 times



Chairman of Climate Parliament Nigeria and President of Global Legislators Organization for a Balanced Environment Nigeria, Rep. Samuel Onuigbo, has commended President Muhammadu Buhari, for listing Green Finance, among other sources of revenue required to implement the 2022 budget when passed by the National Assembly.

To make the Green Economy projection realisable, the lawmaker has, therefore, called on the Senate to expeditiously pass the Climate Change Bill sent to it in July, so that President Buhari can assent.

He said, the plan of the government to exploit the Green Economy in funding the budget, will be more realizable with the passage by the Senate, of the Climate Change Bill he(Onuigbo) sponsored.

The lawmaker gave his view on Sunday, through a press statement made available to journalists in Abuja.

His words: “President Muhammadu Buhari has, since he became President, committed to tackling climate change and during the presentation of the 2022 Appropriations Bill at the National Assembly on October 7, 2021, he said and I quote: “We will also explore available opportunities in the existing ecosystem of green finance including the implementation of our Sovereign Green Bond Programme and leveraging debt-for-climate swap mechanisms.

“By the provisions of Section Four of  the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), Nigeria runs a bicameral legislature. The Senate is one of the two Chambers that make up the National Assembly or Parliament.

"

The Senate has proven time and again, that it works harmoniously and productively with the House of Representatives to complement the efforts of the executive arm of government in a concerted action to enthrone good governance.

“I hope you know that in a democracy, the legislature is the first arm of government. Even the drafting of the Climate Change Bill was also a conscious and deliberate action at translating the lofty declarations of Mr. President into legal effect, by providing a legal framework that would help achieve the country’s efforts at tackling climate change”, he said.

According to him, “So, I have no doubts whatsoever that the Senate will expeditiously pass the Bill. My confidence is predicated on the incontrovertible and verifiable evidence that while the House passed the Climate Change Bill on Thursday, the 8th of July, 2021,  the Senate swiftly ensured that the Bill went through First Reading on Wednesday, the 14th of July, 2021. That shows you unanimity of purpose and how seriously they are taking it.

“On the off-chance that the needed concurrence from the Senate is not achieved, what that means is that Nigeria’s chances of benefiting from green funding will be severely limited. There are countless opportunities for us to benefit if we start now, and begin the process of clean energy transition.

“There are lots of jobs from the renewable and clean energy sectors, and the country can benefit from these. A legal framework, which is what the Bill is providing, will ensure that our efforts are properly coordinated, strategically executed, and ensure that we derive the necessary sustainable growth that we need. So, the Senate not providing concurrence expeditiously will not be a good thing for the country.

“That said, I am quite positive that concurrence will be provided by the Senate to enable us to deepen the process of benefitting from a coordinated clean energy transition and also arming Mr President with evidence of his declarations during his inaugural speech and at other global fora”.

 

 


Readers Comments

comment(s)

No comments yet. Be the first to post comment.


You may also like...