Commissioner for the Environment in Lagos State, Tunji Bello, has restated the state’s commitment towards addressing the scourge of climate change, which he described as the defining environmental challenge of the world.
He noted this at the close of the three-day climate change summit hosted by the state government. The summit, the fifth in the series, had “Vulnerability and Adaptability of Climate Change in Nigeria: Lagos State Housing, Transportation and Infrastructural Sectors in Focus” as its theme.
The commissioner noted: “The previous summits have clearly shown that the state’s commitment to the development and evolvement of a climate change-conscious society so as to lay the foundations necessary to counteract the global threat.”
He said that the choice of the themes for the summits have been propelled by the policy thrust of the present administration in the state.
Bello expressed satisfaction at the successful hosting of the summit, saying that the different sessions and panels engendered productive interactive discussions which have contributed “in no small measure” to the building of national and international understanding of climate change and its impact on transportation, housing and infrastructural sectors of Lagos State.
He added that the discussions from the summit would assist the state government as well as world policy makers in making timely policy decisions in the fight against climate change, adding that the state would continue to improve on the hosting of the summit with fresh and strategic arrangement.
He charged all present, including members of the National Assembly and Lagos State House of Assembly, traditional rulers, senior civil servants from Federal, State, and Local Governments, political office holders, members of the academia, people from the private sector, national and international experts in climate change, NGOs and environmentalists to pass on the message and ensure that “our people in all sectors make use of the best practices”.
He also expressed appreciation to participants and resource persons, who endorsed the communique that emerged at the close of the event.
