The Department of Climate Change (DCC) in the Federal Ministry of Environment has emphasised the need to capture affected communities and workers into the nation’s Green Job Assessment programme to help ensure its successful implementation and transition to a just economy.
In view of the above, the DCC believes that participatory processes and national ownership of the green job assessment programme would contribute to the evidence-based policy formulation on socio-economic impacts of Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) policy.
Acting director of the DCC, Halima Bawa-Bwari, who raised the emphasis at a validation workshop organised by her division on Monday, April 26, 2021 in Abuja to assess the social and employment impacts of NDC policy on the country’s just transition preparatory plan, said that this practice would also facilitate the development of appropriate social protection measures to maximise job growth and minimise losses as the country pursues its economic diversification agenda.
Bawa-Bwari disclosed that the DCC brought together the stakeholders to validate the finalised scenarios as reflected in the submitted report through the active engagement of different participating ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to secure strong political commitment for the execution of the green job initiative.
The DCC boss hinted that the new NDC process would be informed by an assessment of the employment impacts, positive and negative as well as an indication of the measures that would be taken to ensure a just transition for workers as indicated in the Paris Agreement.
For her, the event was an opportunity for national stakeholders to understand sector results from Green Job Assessment Model in agriculture and forestry, industry, oil and gas, energy and transport, water.
She added that the parley would also avail the participants the opportunity to understand the key concept of NDC policy making, just transition, and social and employment impacts of green transition which would help to guide the assessment.
“So, the assessment model,” according to her, “helps us to understand alternative scenarios to economic recovery. It will help policy makers, and participants to understand what options we have and what could be done to make our recovery better.”
Speaking also to the participants virtually at the workshop, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative, Mr. Muyiwa Odele, urged Nigeria to see the climate agenda in the context of the social recovery standpoint.
Odele advised that government’s recovery efforts should be in terms of economic resilience, poverty reduction, and employment creation.
He encouraged Nigerians to support the government in its quest to transit from an oil dependent economy to one that is resilient and works for the benefit of all Nigerians.
By Etta Michael Bisong, Abuja
