Buhari Arrives Poland

Shola Oyeyipo in Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari is now in Krakow, Poland, to attend the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP24) under the United Nation (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), billed to hold between December 2 and 4, 2018.

The Nigerian leader landed at the military Base Balice, International Airport, Krakow 17: 44 local time.

President Buhari and his entourage arrived as temperatures dropped to -3 degrees centigrade bringing the first snow.

The COP24 Summit is holding at the International Conference Centre (MCK), Katowice, an industrial hub, about 100 kilometers from Krakow.

President Buhari is billed to hold a town hall meeting in Krakow on Sunday evening, where he will be opportune to interact with Nigerians living in Poland.

It is expected that President Buhari will deliver a national statement to underscore Nigeria’s commitment to addressing climate change by implementing the goals set out in its National Determined Contributions during the Leaders’ Summit at COP24 on Monday morning.

Statement on the President’s engagements released earlier by the Media office had shown that the President is expected to also use the occasion to accentuate Nigeria’s willingness to work with international partners to reverse the negative effects of climate change in Africa and the world over, while expecting that developed nations scale up their emission reduction activities in order to limit the increase in average global temperatures to well below 2 degrees centigrade between now and 2020.

The statement which was signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, stated that the Summit is expected to adopt a ‘‘Declaration on Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia,’’ – named after the region of Poland where this year’s climate conference is taking place.

As a member of the Committee of the African Heads of State on Climate Change – a group of 10 African countries that meets and takes positions concerning issues of climate change on behalf of the continent – Nigeria has been at the forefront of advancing policies and initiatives aimed at addressing significant challenges occasioned by climate change such as reviving the Lake Chad, halting and reversing desertification, flooding, ocean surge and oil spillage.

The President is accompanied by Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Yahaya Bello and Abubakar Sani Bello of Enugu, Kogi and Niger States, respectively.
Others on his entourage include the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibrin, and National Security Adviser, Babagana Mongonu.