Nigeria To Sanction Erring Carbon Traders

Nigeria’s Federal Government is planning big on revenue from evolving a policy on minimization of carbon emission in the country, issuing a strong warning to carbon emission reduction traders to adhere to all rules guiding the trade or face the wrath of the law.

The warning was issued by the Director-General, National Council on Climate Change (a Federal Government agency), Salisu Dahiru at a validation workshop for the assessment of carbon pricing initiative in Nigeria held in Abuja on Wednesday

Dahiru asked traders who were trading without recourse to designated authority to desist from such activity immediately.

Carbon trade is the buying and selling of credits that permit a company or other entity to emit a certain amount of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gasses.

The carbon credits and the carbon trade are authorized by governments with the goal of gradually reducing overall carbon emissions and mitigating their contribution to climate change.

Dahiru explained that the country had released an initial regulatory guidance which emphasized the need for a carbon trading scheme, adding that the regulatory guidance when it is fully drafted and operational would be tailored towards the government’s priority and would align with Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions on carbon emission, hence should not be altered.

He said: “The situation whereby carbon trading schemes that are all over the place are being done without recourse to the designated national authority for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Nigeria, has to stop.

“We will ensure that every opportunity for harvesting emission reduction certificate from ongoing activities in Nigeria are linked to our NDCs, because that is what the Paris Agreement said and that is what we intend to follow.

“We want to take full advantage of those opportunities so that we can make the necessary investment and also drive the development along our priority targets, as contained in the NDCs and our net zero target.”

He stated that as far as Nigeria was concerned,  the carbon trading scheme was an aspect of its national policy and national priority to put in place all the measures that could address the country’s mitigation and adaptation challenges.

“We are very familiar with the flooding that happened last year and this year we are seeing the signs of flooding.

“This time round, not only in the riverine areas, but as close to us as Lugbe here in Abuja, which tends to highlight that nobody can escape the impact of climate change,” he stated.

Dahiru called for concerted and collective efforts to ensure that Nigeria was fully positioned to take advantage of the opportunities in climate change mitigation and adaptation.

“This is not only for the government to invest in, but for the private sector to see the potential in what is always at the forefront and also making profit from carbon trading as the opportunity emerges,” he stated.

The Lead Coordinator, African Group of Negotiators on Carbon Markets,  Hadjie Diagne, said policies and instruments should be put in place by the government to encourage carbon pricing

Diagne said developed countries had proven that carbon pricing was one of the most effective economic instruments for reducing carbon emissions.

He added that carbon pricing contributed to supporting adaptation measures as well as poverty eradication through revenue generation.

Michael Olugbode in Abuja

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