Kukah Slams Government Over Failure To Tackle Climate Change

Posted by Eric Ojo Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Sunday, December 26th, 2021

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Dioceses, Mathew Hassan Kukah has blamed the Nigerian government for not doing enough to address the negative effects of climate change in the country.

The challenges associated with climate change in Nigeria include, increases in temperature; variable rainfall; rise in sea level and flooding; drought and desertification; land degradation; more frequent extreme weather events; affected fresh water resources and loss of biodiversity.

Notably, the challenges faced by Nigerians across the country are not the same Nigeria has a tropical climate with two precipitation regimes: low precipitation in the North and high precipitation in parts of the Southwest and Southeast.

This, according to experts, can lead to aridity, drought and desertification in the north; and flooding and erosion in the South. Moreover, vulnerability analysis demonstrates that states in the north experience higher degrees of vulnerability to climate change than those in the south. The Northeast and the Northwest are the most vulnerable.

In his Christmas sermon on Saturday, the Bishop said air and water pollution, waste management, deforestation, desertification, erosion, and flooding, continue to threaten agriculture, aquaculture and the welfare of citizens despite all the grand plans.

“Over time, we have seen long, good promises caught in the web of bureaucratic fraud”, he said.

Bishop Kukah also called for a more honest, open and robust strategy to end banditry and other security challenges in the country.

“We have before us a government totally oblivious to the cherished values of the sacredness of life. Today, after over seven years, our over 100 Chibok Girls are still marooned in the ocean of uncertainty. Over three years after, Leah Sharibu is still unaccounted for. Students of the Federal Government College, Yauri, and children from Islamiyya School, Katsina, are still in captivity.

“This does not include hundreds of other children whose captures were less dramatic. We also have lost count of hundreds of individuals and families who have been kidnapped and live below the radar of publicity”, he added.

He said that tales and promises about planned rescues have since deteriorated into mere whispers and that nothing expresses the powerlessness of the families like the silence of state at the federal level.

“The silence of the federal government only feeds the ugly beast of complicity in the deeds of these evil people who have suspended the future of entire generations of our children.

“Does the President of Nigeria not owe us an explanation and answers as to when the abductions, kidnappings, brutality, senseless, and endless massacres of our citizens will end? When will our refugees from Cameroon, Chad or Niger return home? We need urgent answers to these questions”, he stressed.

The bishop, however, commended the efforts of the nation’s security men and women to restore order in the country.

On the amended electoral act, his commended the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and the National Assembly for falling into line with the wishes of the people and injecting technological innovation into the electoral process.

He urged the National Assembly to quickly act on the observations made by the President on the issues of direct or indirect primaries and return the bill to the President for assent.