Education
Environmentalist urges govt to prioritise climate action – EnviroNews
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An urban planner and environmentalist, Mr. Michael Simire, has urged the Federal Government to prioritise measurable implementation of Nigeria’s climate commitments.
Simire, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of EnviroNews Nigeria, made the call in an interview on Thursday, October 1, 2026, in Lagos.
He said every major target under Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) should have annual milestones, responsible institutions, funding and publicly accessible progress reports.
He also called for greater investment in adaptation and environmental protection, including flood control, drainage, ecosystem restoration, forests, wetlands, coastal protection and climate-resilient agriculture.
Simire said the country should accelerate a people-centred clean-energy transition through reliable electricity, expanded renewable energy, cleaner cooking and efficient public transport.
According to him, such measures would help address climate change, air pollution, energy poverty and household costs simultaneously.
He said the administration had strengthened Nigeria’s climate policy framework, but implementation and measurable environmental outcomes remained major challenges.
“Policies have not yet translated at the necessary scale into visible improvements in air quality, waste management, flooding, ecosystem protection, energy access and emissions reduction,” he said.
Simire noted that Nigeria had advanced initiatives around the Energy Transition Plan, carbon-market mechanisms, the updated NDC, methane and gas-flaring reduction, renewable energy and environmental regulation.
He said NDC 3.0 established an economy-wide absolute emissions-reduction target for 2035, while targeting zero routine gas flaring by 2030.
He added that it also targeted a 60 per cent reduction in oil and gas fugitive emissions by 2035.
Simire, however, identified implementation, financing, enforcement, reliable data and coordination as major gaps in the country’s environmental response.
He said the government should convert the 32.2 per cent NDC target into sector-by-sector annual emissions budgets and delivery targets.
He called for clear responsibilities for ministries and agencies, funding for major targets, annual milestones and publication of emissions data and progress reports.
Simire also advocated stronger emissions inventory and Measurement, Reporting and Verification systems, as well as institutional accountability for underperformance.
On priority sectors, he said energy and oil and gas deserved immediate attention because of their importance to Nigeria’s emissions profile and economic structure.
He, however, stressed that climate action should simultaneously cover transport, agriculture and land use, waste and industry.
According to him, the Energy Transition Plan identifies power, cooking, oil and gas, transport and industry as five key sectors accounting for about 65 per cent of Nigeria’s emissions.
Simire said Nigeria’s 2060 net-zero pathway was possible, but its credibility would depend on reconciling economic development and rising energy demand with declining emissions intensity.
He said this would require faster expansion of renewable electricity and grids, cleaner cooking, methane reduction, efficient transport, industrial decarbonisation and protection of carbon-rich ecosystems.
“Nigeria should not attempt to achieve net zero by suppressing legitimate development needs.
“The objective should be to provide much more energy while progressively reducing the emissions associated with producing and consuming that energy,” he said.
Simire also urged the government to link climate policies directly to citizens’ everyday needs.
He said success should be measured through cleaner air, fewer flooded communities, functioning drainage, reliable electricity, cleaner cooking, affordable public transport, reduced waste and stronger food systems.
Ahead of the next Conference of Parties (COP), he urged Nigeria to seek greater grant-based adaptation finance and easier access to climate finance.
He also called for concessional financing for renewable energy and resilient infrastructure, increased funding for loss and damage, technology transfer and capacity building.
Simire further sought financing for methane and gas-flaring reduction, climate-resilient agriculture and mechanisms suitable for highly indebted developing countries.
He said Nigeria’s demand should not simply be for more money, but for predictable, accessible and affordable finance aligned with national priorities.
He stressed the need for stronger procurement systems, project-level disclosure, independent monitoring, public climate-finance accounts and credible emissions measurement and verification.
Simire also called for environmental safeguards and community participation in climate-related projects.
On the energy-transition strategy, Simire said Nigeria needed faster deployment of solar and other renewable energy sources, stronger transmission and distribution networks and cleaner cooking.
He also advocated efficient transport and reduced reliance on diesel and petrol generators.
He said gas could play a transitional role in improving electricity reliability but should not delay investments in renewable generation, storage and grid modernisation.
Simire further called for stringent environmental safeguards for oil and gas developments, including methane monitoring, elimination of routine gas flaring and spill prevention.
He also sought rapid response to spills, independent environmental impact assessments, proper decommissioning and remediation, and protection of wetlands, mangroves and fisheries.
He advocated transparent environmental liabilities, meaningful participation and compensation for host communities.
On waste management, he said Nigeria needed to move from a collect-and-dump system to a circular economy.
He recommended universal and reliable waste collection, source separation, material-recovery and recycling facilities, producer-responsibility schemes and stronger controls on single-use plastics.
Simire also called for the formalisation and protection of waste pickers, proper sanitary landfills, organic-waste composting and hazardous-waste controls.
He advocated a national e-waste management system, saying waste should increasingly be treated as an economic resource and climate issue.
Simire said Nigeria also needed substantially greater investment in climate adaptation and resilience.
He stressed the need to move from largely reactive disaster management to risk reduction before disasters occurred.
He identified drainage maintenance, floodplain planning, wetland restoration, coastal ecosystem protection and improved early-warning systems as key measures.
He also advocated climate-proof roads and infrastructure, as well as climate-resilient agriculture.
On forests, wetlands and mangroves, Simire advocated stronger protection and restoration programmes backed by credible mapping, satellite monitoring and community participation.
He said such ecosystems provided flood protection, carbon storage, water regulation, biodiversity, fisheries and livelihoods.
Simire said environmental institutions required adequate technical and financial resources and stronger monitoring powers.
He also called for transparent appointments, independent compliance monitoring, publicly accessible environmental data and meaningful sanctions for violations.
He proposed an annual National Environmental and Climate Performance Dashboard covering greenhouse-gas emissions, methane emissions and gas flaring.
Other indicators, he said, should include renewable-energy capacity, electricity access, clean-cooking adoption and air quality.
He added that forest cover and restoration, mangrove and wetland protection, waste collection and recycling should also be monitored.
Other indicators should include plastic leakage, flood and erosion losses, climate-finance inflows and expenditure, and progress against each NDC target.
Simire said citizens should be able to determine whether each indicator was improving, deteriorating or remaining unchanged.
He also stressed the importance of states and local governments in addressing environmental challenges, including waste, drainage, flooding and land-use planning.
He added that transport, forests and pollution also required stronger attention at sub-national levels.
Simire called for stronger federal-state coordination through shared targets, common data systems, dedicated climate financing and clearly defined responsibilities.
“Turn Nigeria’s climate commitments into things Nigerians can see and measure,” Simire said, identifying this as his message to President Bola Tinubu ahead of the next COP.
He said Nigeria already had the policy architecture, with NDC 3.0 targeting a 32.2 per cent emissions reduction by 2035.
He added that the country’s long-term strategy targeted net zero by 2060.
“The next stage should be delivery: cleaner energy, functioning waste systems, protected forests and wetlands, reduced methane and pollution, resilient communities and transparent climate spending,” he said.
Simire said Nigeria needed a system capable of demonstrating, year after year, that its climate commitments were being implemented.
By Fabian Ekeruche
