EU, FG Move To Tackle Methane Emissions In Nigeria

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The European Union, through UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory has resolved to build the capacity of stakeholders and negotiators in the climate sector to address methane emissions in Nigeria.

Its Programme Manager Officer, Ms Marci Paranski, disclosed this at a press conference of a three-day capacity-building workshop organised with the help of Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN).

The project funded by the EU Delegation to Nigeria and implemented by UNEP’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) in collaboration with the federal government of Nigeria led by the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC).

Paranski said that the project would be looking at three core areas; oil and gas, agriculture and waste to be scaled up to other sectors subsequently.

She stressed that the workshop marked the kick off activities in Nigeria for the country’s Methane Emissions Reduction Pilot Program.

Paranski said: “It is the first of its kind in Africa with the goals of establishing a national baseline for methane in the country, meaning understanding the contributions of the oil and gas sector,agriculture and waste to national methane emissions over the period of one year.

“So we will be working with various scientific partners in and outside Nigeria to scope this scientific study and then we are doing various capacity building activities including this oil and gas training workshop today.

“We are working with partners at the NCCC, the EUD, SDN, and Carbon Limits to provide these training and other capacity building activities working with civil servants, with private sector, and with early career scientists.

“This is just the first of several activities that are planned in this project which overall spans about three years,”she said

Also, Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NCCC, Dr. Nkiruka Maduekwe said the idea behind the methane reduction in Nigeria was based on Nigeria’s 2021 Naturally Determined Contributions (NDCs), commitment making it the first country in Africa to make a pledge to reduce methane emissions.

He noted: “Moving in that stride, in 2023 the government developed the guidelines on methane and also the gas flaring methane prevention regulation to ensure that we regulate this sector and we reduce methane in the things that we do.

“One of the things about methane is that it is short-lived but it is extremely dangerous and that is the challenge with methane and one of the things we now call it is a super pollutant.

“That is why the NCCC Secretariat is also being supported by the European Union delegation and UNEP to drive this capacity building program.

“This is necessary because if you do not develop capacity for people to understand what needs to be done, then we will not be able to implement the results of the research and that is why we need to build capacity.”