14th September, 2022
By Vivian Emoni
The government of the United States has expressed its commitment to support Nigeria to effectively address climate change and other environmental crises in the country.
The United States Special Presidential Envoy, Mr John Kerry, made the commitment at a roundtable meeting with some newsmen on Tuesday in Abuja.
Kerry commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his commitment in implementing programmes and policies to tackle environmental crisis.
“I had a good discussion with the president on climate change issues and I was delighted with how he is tackling the climate crisis in the country.
“It was a huge accomplishment the president has achieved to get that done. We will have very serious money flowing into climate issues.
“Nigeria will benefit in the sense that we’re going to put a lot of money into the climate programmes.
“Part of the commitment is also on how we will be looking on the transition to hydrogen will be moved faster in the country,” he said.
Kerry said that the United States government would be working on how to get battery storage longer and better.
He added, ”if that could be achieved, the whole world would benefit.”
Kerry said that Nigeria produced fossil fuel and have numerous gas reserves, adding that the country was as well prone to climate crisis.
“I will like to explore with you, looking for solutions to tackle the climate crisis, obviously, it is a high level of responsibility.
“We will think through on how we can work together as we implement climate change so that we can achieve net zero in 2050,” he said.
The envoy called on private sectors and other relevant stakeholders to support in addressing the menace.
Kerry said, “we cannot get to this solution without the support of the private sectors.
“We need the support of companies in private sectors, the experts who can bring ideas and provide wise decisions to enable effective implementation of programmes.
“We need the private sectors to be at the table with us, support us to put together funding to leverage other investments.”
Kerry said that the government had signed Clean Energy Demand Initiative, to promote cleaner air, adding that the citizens would benefit from the initiative.
He said that the essence of the initiative was to ensure a healthy and clean energy access in the country.