Retired Air Vice Marshal Akugbe Iyamu, former Acting Director General of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), has expressed disappointment with Nigeria’s approach to the COP29 climate conference, urging the country to prioritise concrete solutions over symbolic agreements.
In an interview with Arise News on Monday, Iyamu criticised the reliance on memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and called for a more strategic and focused engagement to address Nigeria’s pressing energy and climate challenges.
He reflected on the significance of the event, its perceived shortcomings, and Nigeria’s role in tackling global environmental challenges.
Iyamu criticised the lack of participation by key global leaders, noting, “Out of the G-7 leaders, it is only Kier Starmer that showed up. Is there any real commitment to save this planet, which is the major objective of the UN climate conferences?”
Tracing the history of climate action, he remarked, “Everything there is history. If you see the UNFCCC coming back, let’s go back a little. December 29, 1970, the world saw an overshoot, that was when the world was taking more than nature could replenish.
“That led to the head summit that gave birth to UNFCCC, then to the Kyoto Protocol, which recognised the developed nations’ responsibility to contribute money to deal with the vulnerable nations. It didn’t bring in the vulnerable nations at that particular time.”
On COP29, he described it as a “make-or-break conference of action,” adding, “The world was waiting. What actually came out was very bare minimum. A lot of people want to say it was a disappointment, but I don’t want to look at it that way. It’s sustainability in action. Whatever you want to call disappointment has created the determination to move forward.”
Iyamu highlighted skepticism over Azerbaijan, an oil-rich nation, hosting the conference.
“First of all, Azerbaijan is a country that has seven billion barrels of oil underground. The argument is, why are we having countries that are very deep in oil still hosting the Conference of Parties? They are going to humble the outcome.”
Focusing on Nigeria’s role, Iyamu lamented the lack of strategic planning and prioritisation. He noted, “For my country like Nigeria, which has two headwinds, we are going to ramp up oil production to 2.06 million barrels per day and we are going ahead with compressed natural gas. If we go there, we are not supposed to be in all the side meetings.
“We go with two wish lists: We have on-grid only five gigawatts and we have 14 gigawatts off-grid, powered by petrol, diesel, and all. We are one of the energy poverty capitals of the world. What do we do? How do you help us?”
He condemned Nigeria’s delegation strategy, stating, “For COP29, it’s a case of saving it from itself, its structure, and where we are now. For Nigeria, we have to reorder our priorities. I thought our going there was going to be engagement, but we have found peace with these very sweet words: ‘MOU,’ which does not amount to anything.”
Iyamu emphasised the need for targeted focus.
“The side meetings for us should have been on two issues: agriculture and the extreme weather, including energy, which is our biggest problem here. It brings multidimensional poverty. Those key issues, we didn’t need to have been in all the side meetings.”
Iyamu questioned the size of Nigeria’s delegation to COP29.
“The last time, they said 600 people went there, to do what? In a conference, some were sending 15 to 20. What were they doing? Assuming the cost of our problem, 600 people went there. When they came back, what have 600 brought to justify the amount of money that was spent in going there?”
Highlighting Nigeria’s untapped resources, he said, “Nigeria has 854 kilometers of shoreline, $1 trillion worth of untapped lithium, and 4 percent of the untouched forest. I didn’t see that in our wish list. And when we were going, did we engage Nigerians? We have to listen to the people that are bearing the brunt.”
Iyamu also pointed out the immense financial gap needed to combat environmental degradation.
“The conference of parties might not have lived up to expectations, but it created a lot of things. $300 billion was a fair cry. The world needs $26 trillion to fight environmental degradation. By 2022, $0.5 trillion was invested in renewable energy.
“Only 1.5 percent came to Africa, but the World Bank is saying that the population is going to increase from 1.4 billion to 2.5 billion. With that, the energy requirement is going to increase by 150 percent if your per capita income becomes $5,000. Percolate to the air, it’s going to increase by 30 percent. It would have been more intentional to speak on it than what we got from COP29.”
On Nigeria’s energy strategy, Iyamu stated, “The panel on climate change is available to everybody. The science ministry and the water ministry are supposed to be on top of this. Water movement across the world is not hidden. In 2022, we suggested that we need at least four mega dams to take the water.”
He added, “Our policy for climate should be known to everybody. The NCC woman did her best. My question is, what did Nigeria take there? The argument should have been that we need this money to develop infrastructure so that we can be on a sustainable path for renewable energy.”
Iyamu concluded with a call for greater alignment between Nigeria’s climate actions and global objectives, reiterating the need for tangible results from future conferences.
Boluwatife Enome
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