The Federal Government has hinted of its plans to issue N300 billion Sovereign Green Bond between May and October this year.
The Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abass Lawal, who made this disclosure while briefing journalists at the 8th Ministerial Press Briefing in Abuja, recalled that Nigeria was first African country to launch the Sovereign Green Bond in 2017 with N10 billion and that the second issuance, was launched in 2019 with the sum of N15 billion.
The minister explained that the present administration would launch the third and fourth issuances by the end of May and in October 2025, with the sum of N50 billion and N250 billion respectively.
He said: “Before we came, the gas was burning for four years. Four years! That fire had been burning, destroying the ecosystem, destroying the livelihood of the people of that area. Then, it is when we came, we moved in there, trying to address it.
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“So, the other area that I believe is very important is the area of environmental impact assessment, which is under the Ministry of Environment. For all the projects that go on in this country, they must undergo environmental analysis. They must undergo an assessment that will confirm that that project will not affect the society in that area, and will not be harmful to the ecosystem of that area.
“In that part, I think we did very well in all areas, and I want to commend the ministers of this administration. Before, most government ministries could not go far. They just assumed that it will just be done.
“But now, no government ministry or department can undertake any project without going through a year ahead. So, then the other one is the National Standard Administration, which I think has come out with so many policies in trying to address the environmental issue.
“There are people who are trying to make sure that we do things the right way. And we have been through that. And on climate education, the ministry has entered an agreement from the federal to state working on national climate change policy”, Lawal added.
The minister lamented that the kind of thing Nigerian’s do now, particularly in rural areas, were depleting the nation’s forests, hence his ministry presented a draft climate policy to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on the 24th of April, 2024 which was approved.
According to him, since then the ministry has done quite a lot in trying to provide the budget source and sent them to the state governments so that they can do more in the area of reforestation at subnational level.
The minister also spoke on the West Africa Coastal Areas (WACA), a World Bank-sponsored initiative that supports countries in West/East African Coastline, including Nigeria, in managing coastal erosion, flooding, and other coastline related environmental challenges.
He said: “The programme focuses on sustainable coastal resilience, pollution control, and ecosystem restoration to protect coastal communities and economies. The ministry is working on the framework to involve the seven coastal states.
“The Sustainable Procurement, Environmental and Social Standards Enhancement (SPESSE) Project is a capacity-building initiative by the Federal Government and supported by the World Bank. Its primary objective is to develop sustainable capacity in managing procurement, environmental and social standards in both public and private sectors across Nigeria. This initiative has its environmental standards component anchored by the Federal Ministry of Environment”, Lawal stressed.
In addition, the minister confirmed that his ministry had commenced the implementation of a bamboo development factory in Kogi State to promote bamboo and rattan economy in the country in line with the diversification drive of the present administration.
This is even as he disclosed that feasibility studies for the development of seven more bamboo factories were ongoing in Ogun, Cross River, Kaduna, Edo, Benue, Ekiti and Taraba states as part of the government’s drive towards the establishment of more bamboo factories and promote the rattan economy in the country.
