Africa’s Policy Research Group Discusses Path to Mainstreaming Climate Action
Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja
The Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI) has convened a high-level stakeholder event to discuss how to mainstream climate action into Nigeria’s developmental plans and ensure that it is included in its planning and policy development across all sectors.
The event, which brought together policymakers, researchers, the private sector, and development partners in the climate sector, was an opportunity for APRI’s researchers to present their work.
The document looked at how to mainstream climate action across seven key sectors of the Nigerian economy: budget and economic planning; agriculture and food security, security, foreign policy, critical minerals, industry, trade and investment, and transportation.
The event was the third in a series of convening this year that APRI has organised on climate action in Nigeria, and builds upon its event in March this year on Methane Mitigation and Reduction in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Sector.
This was which it organised with the Federal Ministry of Environment, and in May on climate financing in Nigeria in collaboration with the Enzo Ijayo Initiative with the support of the Africa Climate Foundation.
In his opening remarks, the Nigeria Focal Person of APRI, Chibuikem Agbaegbu highlighted that for Nigeria to attract the level of finance and investments to support its climate ambition, there needed to be clear policy direction and alignment, effective stakeholder coordination and collaboration, and an increasingly improve enabling environment for climate investments.
“However, there are challenges with this in Nigeria. The Energy Transition Mapping Report, prepared by APRI for the federal government, clearly identified a lack of adequate coordination across the government.
“There is policy incoherence, poor planning, and misaligned stakeholder interests as underlying challenges. Recent APRI engagements with senior policymakers across the government indicate significant frustration at their inability to attract or access pools of climate finance, largely due to these challenges,” Agbaebu added.
He disclosed that the research briefs discussed at the dialogue were part of APRI’s efforts to provide evidence-based insights to inform government and key stakeholders on ways to improve policy coherence between Nigeria’s sectoral policies and initiatives, and its climate policies and initiatives.
The dialogue featured presentations by researchers who authored policy briefs on mainstreaming climate action across different sectoral activities of the government, followed by an interactive session where participants asked questions and provided their opinions and insights.
APRI is an independent and nonpartisan African think tank located in Berlin, Germany, and Abuja, Nigeria. It researches key policy issues affecting African countries and the African continent and aims to provide policy options to African policymakers and civil society actors.
Its programmes include Economy and Society, Africa’s Climate Agenda, Africa’s Digital Agenda, and Geopolitics and Geo-economics.
Under the programmes, it designed research projects with its partners and collaborators.
The organisation was established in 2021 and has a strong track record of delivering insightful research to inform policymaking in Africa with the support of partners such as the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Ford Foundation, Mastercard Foundation, the African Climate Foundation, Global Affairs Canada, and many others.
