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How government killed Nigeria’s cocoa industry

Michael Simire
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How government killed Nigeria’s cocoa industry

Our cocoa industry has the potential to employ millions of Nigerians and also create economic spin-offs, which would in turn provide employment for other millions. But, sadly, this is not so. Over the years, successive governments have killed the industry with bad policies, weak vision and deliberate corruption and cooperation with external vested interests.

Cocoa-tree-1Nigeria is the fourth-largest producer of cocoa beans in the world, behind Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Indonesia. After petroleum, cocoa is the country’s most important export – before independence, cocoa generated about 90 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings. Today, about 300,000 to 350,000 tonnes of cocoa are produced every year, but more than 96 per cent of this is exported. This looks good on the surface; but when one looks deeply, the Nigerian government’s policy on cocoa export is killing our economy. Secondly, the government’s deliberate discouragement of small businesses in cocoa-based manufacturing brutally hit the cocoa industry.

Export is good; but when it is only empowering foreign businessmen while taking away jobs from Nigerians, it should be reviewed drastically. Experts in the industry have constantly raised alarm over government’s continued incentives to cocoa exporters, as opposed to cocoa processors. It is interesting to note that almost all the cocoa exporting firms are owned by foreigners.

According to Gbenga Osinaike, a cocoa industry analyst, “From all indications, exporting raw cocoa is indirectly helping the economies of the importing foreign countries’ economy. In most of the other countries where cocoa is produced, the exporters of the produce are made to pay tax to the government; but in Nigeria, government’s Export Expansion Grant on the commodity is as good as subsidising exporters. Exporters of raw cocoa are receiving undue government patronage. This trend, in a way, will only help to discourage private efforts at processing and in the long run kill the nation’s economy and keep our youths perpetually in the unemployment market.”

The truth is that the few Nigerians who are in the business of cocoa processing cannot compete with the foreign companies who take our raw cocoa to their country, process in their factories and bring back to us as finished cocoa-based products. This is very much like the dilemma we all cry about today bedevilling the petroleum industry; whereby we export our crude oil, and then import it as costly refined products.

This trend has chased a lot of Nigerians out of the cocoa business. One of the few still weathering the storm, Dimeji Owofemi, said in an interview recently, “It will be enough if the government stops giving incentives to those exporting the raw material because the raw material is a core element. For instance, in our industry, we don’t need any other raw material; it’s cocoa, 99 per cent. The rest of the items in the finished product – milk and sugar – are less than one per cent in value. So, the government needs to stop giving incentives to us on one hand and taking it back on the other hand by giving incentives to those who have external factories because the incentive being giving on raw beans export is incentive to external factories. Those external factories are being protected by their own countries through the imposition of taxes on the cocoa we have added value to.”

The irony is that most of the cocoa-based end products are labelled as contrabands in Nigeria, but the rate at which they still find their way into our borders is alarming. A brief trip to any ‘trendy’ local supermarket will illustrate this. This therefore raises the million naira question: “Is it, how porous is our borders, or how weak are our policies?” And this can only be answered by the Nigerian Customs Service, and the National Planning authorities.

The government must be practical. If our 170 million-population cannot be satisfied by the local cocoa-based products; there are two options before us. Firstly, the government could lift the ban, but tax the importation so severely that the foreign firms targeting the Nigerian market would be forced to open factories in the country, thereby boosting our economy. Secondly, the government could totally ban importation of all cocoa-based products, and strictly implement this; and then pump in angel funds and grants to Small and Medium Scale businesses to develop a robust indigenous cocoa-based manufacturing value chain.

This brings me to the other problem. During the late 1990s, NAFDAC and SON clamped down on Nigerian businessmen who were engaged in the so-called ‘mushroom manufacturing’ of packaged cocoa-based beverages. In those days, the local markets were flooded with small sachets of ‘alternative bournvita’. They came in several brand names: CocaMela, CocoVita, MorningCoco, etc. They catered to the needs of the Nigerian masses many of who could not afford the big cans of the established cocoa beverage brands. Note that in those days these big brands did not produce the little sachets that are common in the market today. Then, it was either you bought the big can or you could not ‘drink tea’. Therefore, a beverage morning meal or ‘tea’ was a rich man’s breakfast.

The Nigerian government’s decision to chase the small beverage producers out of the system effectively killed a budding industry that would have solved two problems at one stroke. It would create employment for the teeming youth population while empowering them with the requisite knowledge to populate an emerging production value chain. It would also provide an easy market for the nation’s cocoa raw material, and in turn catalyse a local cocoa processing sub sector. To be candid, Nigeria had the opportunity to become an industrial giant just like China who started out with this kind of small holder business model. But we lost all this in an overzealous drive by a visionless public service.

I personally interviewed one of the frustrated beverage manufacturers. He graduated from a Nigerian university in 1996; after NYSC, he decided to become an entrepreneur so learnt how to package the sachet beverage. He bought processed cocoa from Ondo State; and after production, supplied his branded products in several parts of the country. Before his second year in the industry, he had expanded his one-room factory to a warehouse, and employed other 36 Nigerian youths. NAFDAC supervised his brand, gave him a registration number, and business was going well; until the government came up with new, untenable, guidelines aimed at kicking them out of business. Many of these entrepreneurs insist that the government was working in cahoots with established beverage brands who felt threatened by the mass reception of these mushroom brands by the enormous market existing in this great nation.

It does not take a professional statistician to know the harm done to Nigeria by the policy. The youths that were potentially disengaged from fruitful enterprise and sustainable capacity can only be counted in the millions. The man I interviewed is now a low paid civil servant; while he would have become an international businessman by now, counting his millions and inventing more job-creating ventures. There is no over-emphasising the fact that a nation where everybody is dependent on the government to provide his every need is headed for the rocks. No wonder, at the ongoing National Conference, every Dike, Tolu and Haruna is out-shouting each other over sharing of the nation’s resources; Assets that we are not even ready to manage with wisdom and transparency. May God help Nigeria.

By Greg Odogwu

‘Nigeria sits on environmental health time bomb’

Michael Simire
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‘Nigeria sits on environmental health time bomb’

Just when Nigerians are counting on the possibility that Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, will be counted among the best cities of the world, facts about how well-planned cities are rated have begun to emerge, and the indices suggest that some Abuja high-brow districts are far from measuring up to international standards.

It has been disclosed that, environmentally speaking, Asokoro, which is one of Abuja’s elite districts, is a slum.

Ebisike
Ebisike

The Registrar, Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria (EHORECON), Augustine Ebisike, in a chat with EnviroNews Nigeria in his office last weekend, disclosed that most of the districts of Abuja score the zero mark when it comes to environmental health designs and facilities.

According to the environmental health expert, Nigeria is sitting on a health time bomb because the infrastructure and practices that enhance human health are fast deteriorating and, if not checked, by the next couple of decades the nation shall be contending with severe health issues which were brought about by preventable circumstances.

“There are a lot of practices that are neglected today but which are detrimental to the environment. Take for example, dirty water is not supposed to be used to mould construction blocks, but right here in Abuja and everywhere else the situation is that people just go and start a block moulding factory and use dirty water to produce them, and nobody says anything about this. These blocks built with dirty water have been proved to have short life span, and before long, they begin to disintegrate,” Ebisike said.

“Another fact is that the streets here are not built to enhance the wellbeing of citizens. Even Asokoro, and some other districts of Abuja, were designed like a slum. This is because in a well-planned standard residential area, the streets are planned in a way that there is space for pedestrians, and also cyclists, so that people can exercise. The international standard is that builders could use only 50 per cent of space in a plot for building in a residential area, while 75 per cent in a commercial plot; the rest space is supposed to be open ground for diverse health-enhancing facilities.”

The EHORECON boss also shed light on the fact that most working class Nigerians are living sedentary life which is not healthy, considering that the human body needs constant physical exercises to maintain a sound condition and biological equilibrium.

“Today we all live a sedentary lifestyle, and our children’s only way of spending their leisure time is playing video games, computers and television. Nobody exercises, and in the future we shall have a whole lot of preventable diseases come upon us. In fact, we are sitting on a time bomb.

“The truth is that 70 per cent of illnesses are preventable with environmental modifications. But even in Abuja here we are living a sedentary lifestyle while there are no playgrounds for our children to play at home. Nigeria needs environmental health interventions to remedy the situation. This is why the Federal Government, by the Act 11 of 2002, established Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria.”

It will be recalled that during the colonial and post-colonial era, the efforts at keeping the environment clean through societal effort in self-determination, self-motivation and self-reliance with the community concept of full participation were initiated; these efforts were spearheaded by the then Sanitary Inspectors who moved from house to house enforcing environmental health standards.

Unfortunately over the years, Environmental Health (EH) services and EH practice deteriorated in Nigeria from the standard set by the British colonial masters to a position of total neglect of the sub-sector by both succeeding governments and the general society over the years.

It is also on record that the Sanitary Inspectors now known as Environmental Health Workers (EHO) were the major motivators who moved from house-to-house to inspect premises, educate household members on sanitation and hygiene matters, caused nuisances to be abated and also enforced necessary environmental health related laws and regulations.

“First, by providence, Environmental Health has been recognised as a profession Nigeria through an Act of parliament the Environmental Health Officers (Registration, etc) Act 11 of 2002. The Environmental Health Officers Registration Council of Nigeria has been established to regulate the profession. What needs to be done is for all Nigerians to adopt Environmental Health consciousness and fall back on what was done right in those days of sanitary inspectors which worked well for our public health and environmental integrity.

“Second, Environmental Health services must be seen as public good that needs to be protected and the practice guided to enable it contribute to national development. The Transformation Agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan has outlined the need to empower people, promote private enterprise and change the way people do their work to reduce poverty and inequality. A good platform for achieving this is a disciplined environmental health culture, which provides the opportunity for optimal health and aesthetic environment,” he concluded.

By Greg Odogwu

HIP REPLACEMENT SURGERY

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How environmental degradation induces insecurity, insurgency

Michael Simire
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How environmental degradation induces insecurity, insurgency

Environmental activists and experts are of the view that deliberate efforts to tackle environmental challenges in Nigeria will help to check the wave of insecurity in the country.

Boko_Haram_2According to them, a large chunk of the insecurity around the world can be directly or indirectly linked to environmental issues such as pollution and desert encroachment. They argue that environmental pollution adversely affects farmlands and water supply, and erodes the people’s sources of livelihood, which in turn makes them susceptible to violence.

Supporting this argument, an environmentalist, Dr Desmond Majekodunmi, cited the case of the Niger Delta, where protesting youths are wont to blow up oil pipelines and kidnap oil workers, to express their grievance over environmental pollution caused by oil exploration and exploitation, as an indication of how environmental issues fuel insecurity.

Majekodunmi said one of the major causes of insecurity in Nigeria, and indeed in other African countries, is environmental degradation.

Majekodunmi
Majekodunmi

“When you have a situation like the one in northern Nigeria where climate change and unabated deforestation have caused the desert to move relentlessly and take over villages, definitely we are going to have hundreds of thousands of environmental refugees. So I am not surprised when they say that some hungry people in the north were given peanuts to carry out terrorist activities. Apart from those that are used by terrorists, take a look at the recurrent problems between the Fulani herdsmen and Plateau people. The Fulanis are looking for grasses to feed their animals, because the far north has been taken over by the desert. And the attempt by Plateau State residents to resist them (the Fulanis) has led to several fights, killing many people and destroying property,” he said.

The insecurity situation in Nigeria is concentrated in the Niger Delta and the North Eastern areas.

While residents in Niger Delta have lost their farmlands and the water meant for drinking and fishing to widespread pollution as a result of oil exploration and exploitation by multinational oil companies, those in the northern states have lost farmlands to rapidly encroaching desert.

Another environmentalist, Ayo Tella, believes that insurgency across the globe is environmentally induced. He said, “Over the years, youths in oil producing areas have posed serious security threat in the region, citing the destruction of their ecosystem by oil companies as their grievance.”

The media recently reported a protest by residents and environment stakeholders in Bayelsa State, which also served to renew the call on oil companies to clean up the pollution they caused or else vacate the region. The residents reportedly complained of the destruction of their sources of livelihood, such as fishing and farming which sustained them before oil exploration began in their region.

A visitor to communities such as Akumazi, Umunede, Ute-okpu, Ewuru, Idumuesah and Ejeme in Delta State would find that all water bodies there are coloured with patches of oil. Similarly, many lands in the areas have been excavated for oil.

According to UNDP Report in 2013, “the Niger Delta region is suffering from administrative neglect, crumbling social infrastructure and services, high unemployment, social deprivation, abject poverty, filth and squalor, and endemic conflict. The majority of the people of the Niger Delta do not have adequate access to clean water or health-care. Their poverty, in contrast with the wealth generated by oil, has become one of the world’s starkest and most disturbing examples of the resource curse.”

On the other hand, terrorist activities are concentrated in the northern states and perpetrated mostly by a group known in Hausa language as “Boko Haram” which literally means: Western education is forbidden.

The sect, believed to have been formed in 2002, allegedly launched military operations in 2009 to create an Islamic state in Nigeria. Before President Goodluck Jonathan declared a State of Emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states in May 2013, an estimated 741 citizens had already died in coordinated attacks, according to a report by the University of Sussex in the UK. The report also says that at least 2,265 have died while about three million people have been affected as at April, 2014.

The devilish activities of the Boko Haram include the multiple bombing of military barracks, media houses and busy bus stops in Abuja, the UN House in Abuja, and the abduction of nearly 300 girls from a government secondary school in Chibok, Yobe State. The abduction has grabbed global attention, giving rise to widespread protests under the twitter platform “#BringBackOurGirls”.

Analysts believe that endemic poverty caused by desertification turned farmlands into barren lands and made the region a fertile ground for terrorists. There is an allegation that unemployed and hungry youths gladly accept peanuts from the masterminds to get involved in terrorism.

The rate of desertification in the country is reported to be high with the attendant destruction of about 2,168sq km of range land and cropland each year in the north. In Yobe State, which is one of the states under emergency rule, a study revealed that, in 1986, the rate of desertification which stood at 23.71 per cent increased to 31.30 per cent in 1999 and, by 2009, it had covered almost half of the state.

The report says that crop cultivation and animal rearing are no more productive in the state, because the soil has lost its fertility, while various infrastructures had collapsed as windstorm from the neighbouring Niger Republic and sand dunes had taken over the entire place.

In an interview, some northerners, who now reside in Lagos, claimed they fled the area and were engaged in menial jobs such as shoe mending, manicure, cart pushing and others, because the encroaching desert destroyed their farms.

Recently, Nigeria was rated by the World Bank Group as among the world’s extremely poor countries, alongside India, China, Bangladesh, DR Congo, Indonesia, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya, even with the country’s huge economy, the largest in Africa. However, a map of the country shows that its poverty index is concentrated in the northern states where desert encroachment is more pronounced.

Militancy and insurgency in the Niger Delta and the northeast zone have placed Nigeria on the map of most insecure regions of the world known for violent crimes such as bombings, manslaughter and kidnapping of innocent people for heavy ransoms. Many concerned citizens believe that the authorities have not given adequate priority to tackling the country’s environmental challenges which would ultimately check the high level of insecurity in the polity.

For instance, the country’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) document which holds industries accountable for the pollution and other environmental problems they cause in the process of their operations, has not been effectively implemented. Also, a Climate Change Commission Bill which seeks to galvanise actions of the relevant stakeholders to address climate change blamed on desert encroachment, flooding, loss of biodiversity and other environmental changes is yet to receive Presidential assent.

Many environmentalists consider such delays in the promulgation and implementation of required policies as a major setback towards creating a sustainable environment in Nigeria.

Majekodunmi said: “We have always had beautiful policies to create shelter belts to tackle desertification in the north. We had one about 21 years ago, during the military era which, if implemented, would have saved us the problems we face now.”

He is however optimistic that the ongoing Shelter Belt project which was inaugurated last year by the former Environment Minister, Hadija Mailafia, and championed by credible stakeholders (such as renowned environmentalist, Newton Jibuno), would be successful. According to him, the current environment minister should take over the project as well as the Great Green Wall programme so that they do not die like the ones before it.

Mailafia in July 2013 inaugurated the Great Green Wall (GGW) programme, in Bachaka, Kebbi State, which is meant “to create a contiguous greenbelt from the Northwest to the Northeast zone in the desert states with the objective of rehabilitating about 225,000 hectares of degraded lands, enhance food security, reduce rural poverty and generate employment for about 500,000 people in its first year of implementation”. The 11 most affected states, commonly called frontline states, are Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Kastina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.

While launching the program, she regretted that £43.3 per cent of the total land area of the country is prone to desertification, exposing 40 million Nigerians to the threat of hunger and total starvation”. There is, however, no official confirmation of the extent of work done on the GGW project, but many people doubt if the worsening security problem in the region could allow any meaningful project to take place there.

Supporting this position, a security expert, Wilson Esangbedo, wonders “how a place under such serious security threat and heavy military deployment would welcome any development project”. According to him, “what is required is for the government to go to areas where there is relative peace and make its presence felt”.

Although oil companies are required to clean up their areas of operations, they cite the insecurity in the region as the excuse for failing to abide by the code. This explains why it is a welcome development that one of the giant companies operating there, ExxonMobil, has just announced plans to commence high sea clean-up of oil spills.

For the Managing Director, Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Adebola Shabi, the nation’s Environmental Impact Assessment should be enforced to make oil companies account for the pollution that they cause.

Other experts believe that getting oil firms to clean up their spills would not only encourage companies to buy and install pollution-control equipment, but would also help in creating jobs for the people. It is important that the government should have the will power to implement all its policies on creating a safe an environment conducive for the people to work and earn their living, in order to shun every temptation to disturb public peace.

By Innocent Onoh

Preparing for the rains, preventing flood

Michael Simire
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Preparing for the rains, preventing flood

Going by global climate history and the forecast by the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), it is almost certain that the rains are set to resume full turtle for the months of July, August and September. The advent of the raining season every year is always greeted with great enthusiasm, particularly by farmers. This usually marks the prelude to the farming season and prospects of bumper harvest of agricultural produce around the country.

Knee-deep flood at Agege, Lagos
Knee-deep flood at Agege, Lagos

However, the hope of bumper harvests by farmers is sometimes dashed by flood which over the years has hampered the efforts of government and farmers to improve on agricultural production, thereby, resulting in serious economic hardship in the country. The unabated rainfall, construction works, dumping of refuse on natural water ways, blockage of canals, leakage from dams, lakes, overflow of rivers and streams have all been identified as catalysts to flood and flooding.

In 2012, Nigeria experienced the worst menace of flood in recent years due to excessive rainfall aggravated by the release of water from a Cameroonian dam by the authorities of that country which flowed into Rivers Benue and Niger, causing uncontrollable flooding. The flood destroyed many homes, farmlands, and threatened the supply of agricultural products in the country.

The terrible and pathetic conditions inflicted on the people especially from the frontline states of Taraba, Benue, Kogi, Anambra, Rivers and Bayelsa among others remain indelible in the minds of Nigerians.

The washing away of homes, farmlands and the resultant loss of hundreds of lives remain a serious concern to government. Now that the raining season is getting to a climax, the question on the lips of many are whether the country will yet again be confronted with a repeat of the 2012 experience, and what the Federal Government has done or is doing to avoid a repeat experience of the 2012 flood.

On its part, the Government of President Goodluck Jonathan has equipped NIMET and put it in a position to ensure accurate weather forecast in order to alert the public on imminent dangers of flooding.

Besides, the Federal Government released the whooping sum of N17 billion to states affected by the flood and other relevant stakeholders to help mitigate the devastating consequences that characterised the 2012 experience.

Also, the construction of the Kashimbilla/gamovo multipurpose, Ose Dam and Hydropower project in Taraba State to accommodate the excessive flow of water from Cameroon whenever it occurs are among measures government has put in place to avert a reoccurrence of the 2012 flooding.

The dam will not only curtail flood but will also generate electricity, enhance irrigation, create employment and boast agricultural production as well as contribute its quota to self-sufficiency in food production in Nigeria.

Similarly, the Federal Ministry of Environment under the leadership of Mrs. Laurentia Laraba Mallam has installed 307 web-based flood warning systems nationwide. It has also installed community-based flood early warning systems in Ondo, Niger, Cross River, Imo, Anambra, Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Nasarawa, Rivers, Kwara, Akwa-Ibom, Abia and Enugu states. The ministry has also acquired and installed four stand-alone automated functional flood early warning facilities along rivers Alamutu, Eruwa and Owena river Basins.

Mallam, is intensifying the campaign for a CLEAN NIGERIA in all the 36 states of the Federation, including the Federal Capital Territory. On the 12th July 2014, the minister was in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital, to lead the National Sanitation campaign, alongside the Governor of that state, Captain Idris Wada.

Massive environmental campaign messages are expected to hit the airwaves including Radio Nigeria in the coming days and months in order to galvanise all efforts aimed at averting possible flooding in 2014 and ensuring a clean and healthy environment for sustainable development.

By Ben Goomg (Federal Ministry of Environment)

OPIC extends length of Agbara Estate road to 50km

Michael Simire
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OPIC extends length of Agbara Estate road to 50km
Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State
Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State

The targeted 10.8 kilometers road re-construction that commenced barely six months ago and is nearing completion at the Ogun State Property and Investment Corporation (OPIC) Estate in Agbara, has grown to 50 kilometers, ostensibly to cater for future needs being ushered in by the state’s infrastructural rebirth.

OPIC Managing Director, Babajide Odusolu, who made the disclosure, pointed out that this was informed by the rate of turnover of the road rehabilitation that is in its initial phase 1, adding that the expansion is meant to cater for more companies being attracted to OPIC Estate as a result of development.

Essentially, OPIC is executing the road re-construction project in phases along with the construction of housing units and creation of new gated residential zones in the estate.

Odusolu said the roads being rebuilt and those to be built afresh would last for 30 between 40 years because of sound, ethical, professional and quality materials committed to the projects.

He projected that while on the average a well-constructed road could last for 25 years, OPIC Estate roads would last longer due to a soil test that revealed the type of materials and expertise to be utilised, and the commitment to match the Ogun standard.

The road maintenance, according to him, has been adequately taken care of by the OPIC Maintenance Department in form of equipment and expertise. He however revealed that some of the equipment and machinery currently in use belong to the Corporation. This, he added, is aimed at supporting the contractors to fast track the project completion.

Part of the support services, he said, is expressed in the OPIC maintenance culture that is driving the provision of a trailer park for trailers that would not be allowed to constitute a nuisance to other road users, neighbours and the host community.

He, however, assured that the trailer park in the nearest future would be upgraded to a world class standard with all necessary infrastructure that would further the economic position of the state and make the business environment friendly.

Meanwhile the Joint Monitoring Committee of private/public partnership of OPIC and industrialists is working to ensure that the professional road contractors deliver at the stipulated time.

Fadina: How Nigeria should respond to IPCC report

Michael Simire
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Fadina: How Nigeria should respond to IPCC report

Prince Lekan Fadina, Executive Director at Centre for Investment, Sustainable Development, Management and Environment (CISME), is an international negotiator on climate change and sustainable development. He has been representing Nigeria in international forums for over two decades. While in Abuja for a duty tour of the FCT branch of his organisation, he spared some time off his busy schedule to chat with Greg Odogwu of EnviroNews Nigeria on issues concerning the recent report from United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where it was emphatically affirmed that the world has only 15 years to reverse global warming or face cataclysmic consequences. Excerpts:

 

Fadina
Fadina

Sir, what drives you?

My drive is sustainable development. I want to see the current environment preserved with fewer risks for the future generation.

 

Should the world and, indeed Nigeria, be worried about the IPCC report?

I think the most important thing for us is to look at the objective of the report. If someone gives you a report and that report is creating waves globally, we should ask, those people making those waves are they the right people? And I believe that, when you have over 1,300 experts (scientists and people from different professions) come up with a report in 2004 where they said the most critical challenge that we have in the 21st century is climate change and that it is a catastrophe that if we are not careful we will see to the end of the world. So, definitely there are basic issues in my view that have come out of this.

 

What are the issues in the report?

Some of the things that they have identified is that climate change for instance has become a challenge, not only unto the scientists but generally to all of us. I think the most important thing that IPCC report has done is to provide government around the world with a strident wake-up call. More or less, what they are saying now is that there is need to mainstream these scientific guidelines into national development.

Apart from their coming up with this report, there was also a group put together to review their report and this report has been considered by over 173 countries. Basically, there are some issues we need to look at. For example, in September, 2013 the group argued that mitigation against climate change needs to be sped up because the global temperature was flat. And arising out of that, they are also telling us in this particular report that if we don’t control the greenhouse, then there could be a collapse of the global system. Their argument is based on some critical issues and one of them is that climate change is having impact on every ecosystem, and we have seen it in Nigeria.

Unlike their report in 2007 that talked about climate change as being the greatest threat to mankind, they have come up with something else that talk about the climate itself, and the effect of that climate. They have stated that the world needs to go towards what is called a low carbon economy. Part of the report clearly stated that we should use less of coal and fossil fuel, which means as a nation it will affect us and we have to start creating an alternative to oil. It would affect the economy of developing countries especially countries that don’t even have what it takes to adjust to the emergencies. The number of people living in cities that are prone to flooding from the sea will be affected. And you know for instance that most of our cities like Lagos, Calabar and Port Harcourt are near the seas which means we need to do something fast.

They also mentioned that there would be a fundamental challenge to marine organisms and ecosystem; this will also be a challenge to us as it will affect our maritime system. They also talked about air pollution which is a very serious thing, they say this can cause health problems and we need also to address it. I recall about seven months ago the World Health Organisation came up with a report that linked about seven million deaths to air pollution worldwide; so there is a need for us to look into this kind of thing too. They also talked about warmer areas that in this warmer areas disease can come up such as malaria will spread, heat related deaths will arise and so on. There are quite a lot of things that will influence mortality, public health and institutions. They also emphasise the issue of poverty and the economic shortages that will arise, this will cause conflict. We have seen it in the case of the Fulani herdsmen in Benue, and some other states of Nigeria.

 

What are the economic implications?

The report says that GDP will be affected by climate impact because it doesn’t account for catastrophic losses which may be most important. Example, loss and damage have entered the dictionary of global negotiation. Loss and damage are substantially important to insurance industries. It also stressed the vulnerability of the poor to climate change, poverty and good living. Again, I believe it is something we need to look at holistically in economic planning.

The IPCC report, I must also mention, not only talks about the problem itself, but it also emphasise that we need to look at the totality of development. As climate change is no longer an issue of its own. It talks about the issue of social equity that we must now start to address the issues of environment, economic and social impact – economic and social impact in anything that we do. And it has introduced into the climate debate what is called the concept of social equity.

 

What can our government do about this situation?

There is an urgent need for us to come up with a group that can seriously look at this report: what can we do, how can we do it and how do we move forward? This is very important for us, especially now that we are aware that the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, is convening a conference in September this year in which Heads of States have to go. It is my own personal view that Nigeria should take a leadership role for Africa.

We also need to move beyond talking, we need to create a high level advocacy. So, in my view, we must seriously address those basic issues which we have raised. For me, this is not an issue you say its Federal Character issue; this touches at the heart of human existence. We must create awareness; people must know what steps we are taking. Individually, we also need to be disciplined. The report has also mentioned that apart from scientific causes arising from climate change, there are human factors. When God gave us the Earth, He said “manage my resources well”. That is a spiritual injunction on our part. Are we managing the resources well? It is not government alone; I don’t believe government alone can do it because nobody has the monopoly of knowledge. So there must be concerted efforts from all of us to make contributions. The most important thing is result. Our objective is to have a peaceful and healthy environment, and how we get it depends on us.

 

Do you think we are ready to adapt as a people or do we need external help?

We on our part must be able to identify our challenges; we must be able to say this is the way we want to go. Recently, the African Adaptation Report came up with some basic challenges that we face, and the question is, have we addressed those ones? We must first of all put our house in order otherwise whatever anybody is telling us may not meet our needs and aspirations. And in the process of doing this, we must put in place what I call a Capacity Building Mechanism that can tell people how we meet these challenges.

 

How should Nigeria prepare for the global conference on climate change, COP 20?

Possibly the easiest way I can put it is that we need to have a roadmap of what we need to do with timeliness; with who to do them, and the funding and collaborations from all of us. It is not a problem of rivalry; we have to find a solution because, at the end of the day, the fundamental issue that we must address is the welfare of the people.

Fears over DR Congo’s endangered trees

Michael Simire
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Fears over DR Congo’s endangered trees

When one thinks of endangered species, the usual large animals spring to mind. Elephants, tigers, rhinos. And quite rightly they are the ones who get the lion’s share of the attention at the meeting of the standing committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) held in Geneva last week.

DRCBut trees are endangered too and that is the main reason Greenpeace took part as an observer. Afroromosia is one such endangered species. A beautiful tree found across west and central Africa it is a much prized tropical hardwood that can be found on many high-end furniture and fittings across the globe.

But such high demand comes at a price. As I sat listening to the debates in Geneva my mind was drawn to a time when I saw piles and piles of Afrormosia logs – many of them illegally felled – littered around a port in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC is home to the vast majority of remaining Afrormosia stocks, but if such illegal logging activity continues at the pace it is now, then the tree will soon be over-exploited.

Aformosia is endangered because of ongoing international trade for its precious wood and has therefore been listed under the CITES Annex II since 1992. This means trade is not stopped altogether but is regulated.

However the first “surprise moment” of the meeting was seeing an industry lobby from the DRC sitting in the country’s delegation to the meeting. The Congolese Government’s contribution to the meeting was concerned primarily with the great difficulties loggers face in getting their timber out of the country and on to the international market.

This seemed to be implicitly sending a message to CITES to back up and leave the industry alone. But this should not happen hopefully if the body is serious about continuing its review of problem countries like the DRC and Laos for failures in implementation.

Data recently published by the think tank Chatham House revealed that 10 large logging companies are responsible for around 90% of all licensed harvesting of timber in the DRC and that two thirds of the resultant logs are from just four species: Sapele (Enthandophragma cylindricum), Wengé (Millettia laurentii), Iroko (Milicia excelsa) and Afrormosia (Pericopsis elata).

This suggests that the Congolese economic model is over-reliant on a just a handful of species from industrial logging concessions, a trend that usually leads to over harvesting. In Equateur and Oriental provinces, the situation is dire, with companies’ entire business models focused on trade in Afrormosia.

The second “surprise moment” of the week, was again sadly not that much of a surprise. A clear lack of enforcement from CITES against countries who fail to comply with their regulations is not uncommon. The organization is backed by a lot of sound science, but unfortunately is a global group that is highly politicized. This means hard language against on non-compliance is rare as it would impinge on the sovereignty of states.

The frustrating part of all of this is that while everyone knows enforcement of CITES regulations in the DRC is nothing short of a mess, it is very hard to do something because on paper all looks fine.

Nevertheless in Geneva concerned parties spoke up and encouraged the Congolese authorities to provide real evidence of trade quotas before the end of November this year and promised to debate if this trade was in fact detrimental to the survival of the species at next year’s plants committee meeting. It is an increasing occurrence that parties to CITES are not satisfied by paper promises alone.

What we feel should happen to really protect the Aformosia species is that the DRC immediately suspends all cutting of the tree and cancels all current authorizations to do so. Some companies who have been issued so-called CITES permits have informed the group’s Secretariat that these permits were “unaccounted for”. Legal action should be taken to ensure such fraud is stopped.

As far as CITES is concerned, there should be a country wide review or separate reviews for plants and animals and suspend all trade in CITES-listed species from DRC until compliance is guaranteed.

The same rigour should then be applied to any evidence the DRC provides regarding harvest and export rates. Check the paperwork, go out in to the forest and to the ports and see what is happening there, open up containers. That’s the only way to control the massive illegal trade in Afrormosia and other species from the DRC.

By Danielle Van Oijen (Forests Campaigner at Greenpeace Netherlands)

Between climate change and the journalist

Michael Simire
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Between climate change and the journalist

Environmental Journalism Scientists are increasingly confident that we are already seeing the impact of climate change. That means journalists have a real opportunity to tell local, personal stories about climate change that are both scientifically accurate and relevant to people’s daily lives. – Dr. Heather Goldstone, Boston, USA.

It is increasingly becoming common to see journalists who ordinarily would never delve into environmental reporting – because it is neither their university degree nor primary assignment – suddenly take interest in environmental reporting and drag themselves through the jargon-filled maze to become specialised environmental reporters. Zeynab Wandati of NTV, Kenya and Kofi Adu Domfeh of Luv FM, Ghana are just two of such reporters. They aver that they were never assigned to the beat but, as Kofi put it, “somehow I developed an interest in the area, and before I realised it I was overwhelmed and became so passionate that it is now like a romance­.”

Wandati
Wandati

If Carl Jung, the Swiss psychiatrist who founded the analytical school of psychology, were alive today, he would simply describe this emerging phenomenon as the workings of the Collective Unconscious. The collective unconscious, which is proposed to be part of the unconscious mind, expressed in humanity and all life forms with nervous systems, is used to describe how the structure of the psyche autonomously organises experience. Distinct from the personal unconscious – a personal reservoir of experience unique to each individual – the collective unconscious collects and organises those personal experiences in a similar way with each member of a particular species. So, as Jung would explain, journalists are unconsciously reacting to the urgent needs of Earth in distress.

Domfeh
Domfeh

It is obvious that African journalists who are responding to this call are actually reacting to the manifest reality that developing countries will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change even as they strive to overcome poverty and advance economic growth. According to the United Nations Development Program, 2007 report, “Climate change is estimated to cause over 145 million deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa, as manifested by extreme famine, flooding, drought, erosion, biodiversity loss and conflicts arising from competition for scarce resources in the next 25 years.”

Ironically, across the continent, strategies, policies and action plans needed to defeat the challenges posed by climate change continue to face unnecessary setbacks at country, regional and global levels. And this is partly due to limited understanding of the issues at hand, poor designs of potential solutions, uncoordinated and systemic failures in implementations of plans by poorly equipped institutions charged to address climate change issues.

But at the core of the problems is the fact that compared to other societal issues such as politics, the subject has not received the necessary attention from the mainstream media, whose duty it is to simplify, demystify and communicate this seemingly arcane field to the masses, while ensuring the issues are accorded front burner attention. Therefore, every journalist has a moral and professional obligation to report issues that pertain to climate change. This does not necessarily entail the media man becoming an environmental journalist.

In fact, climate change is so important that there are strong opinions in some quarters that it should be divorced from the environment, and given its own pedestal with intersectoral and crosscutting status. David Roberts of Grist, recently argued that classifying climate change in the environmental reporting genre does not fit.

He wrote, “Climate change is about rapidly accelerating changes in the substrate of modern civilization, the weather patterns and sea levels that have held relatively steady throughout all advanced human development. By its nature, it affects everything that rests on that substrate: agriculture, land use, transportation, energy, politics, behavior … everything. Climate change is not “a story,” but a background condition for all future stories. The idea that it should or could be adequately covered by a subset of “environmental journalists” was always an insane fiction. It is especially insane given the declining numbers who identify themselves as such.

“We need to disentangle the fate of environmental journalism from media coverage of climate change. The two need not be connected. The pressing, nay existential imperative to divert from the status quo and radically reduce greenhouse gas emissions is necessarily enmeshed in all major human decisions. And so journalists who cover those decisions, whatever their “beat,” need to understand how climate change, as a background condition, informs or shapes the decisions. In journalism, as in other fields, climate needs to be freed from the “environmental” straightjacket.”

Nevertheless, for the African, it would serve empirical purposes to classify climate change with environment, because considering how both are currently intermingled with developmental issues in the continent; the journalist has a lot of consequential story to tell. Someone has to tell the public that most of the conflicts flaring up in Western, Eastern and Central Africa, are environment and climate change related. Someone has to educate the woman in the village what COP 20 means and how her future depends on the decisions that come out from that complicated confab. Someone has to tell the farmers how important the Met Office is to their planting seasons these days. Someone has to sex up the environmental stories in such a way to attract the attention of the editor-in-chief so as to make it a front page story.

But most importantly, the journalists writing on these all-important concerns need to have their capacity raised; trained and networked well enough to understand what the issues are, and how to effectively bridge the yawning communication gap in this emerging global concern.

Zeynab and Kofi mentioned in the opening paragraph are finalists in the second edition of the African Climate Change and Environmental Reporting Awards which was announced during the World Environment Day on 5th June, 2014, in Nairobi. The ACCER awards is organised by the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance, a continental coalition of civil society organisations on a mission to develop and promote pro-poor development and equity based positions relevant for Africa in the international climate change dialogue and related processes; in conjunction with partners like the United Nations Environmental Programme, Oxfam, etc.

According to PACJA’s Secretary General, Mithika Mwenda, “The award is our strategy to promote innovative ways to position climate change and other environmental issues at the centre-stage of socio-economic and political debates; and there is need to incentivise and interest African journalists and media houses to be champions of climate change. The ACCER Awards seeks to encourage constructive environmental focus in the African media, both at policy and policy implementation level and at the level of public awareness and participation in environmental protection and preservation”.

This year, PACJA took a further strategic step by starting The ACCER Awards Finalists Academy. TAAFA seeks to upgrade the understanding of the average journalist to the climate change discourse in a participatory and innovative ambience; tackling the numerous challenges encountered in covering climate change issues, and setting out structured frameworks for mainstreaming African media participation in global engagements.

In Nigeria, media organisations like the Nigerian Network of Climate Communicators (NNCC) that is led by Michael Simire, Network of Environmental Journalists in Nigeria (NEJIN), Nigeria Association of Science Journalists (NASJ) lead the way in this regard. Nonetheless, there is need for environment-related Ministries, Departments and Agencies to carry journalists along in their activities. For now this is the only way to increase their capacity, expose them to global trends, and incentivise them to not only maintain professional savvy, but to ‘keep at the beat’ in the midst of other alluring sectors like politics. On the part of the journalist, there is need to continue updating knowledge via personal research and also actively seek to simplify the climate change message for the public, and for the editor whose task it is to decide the fate of the story.

 

By Greg Odogwu

Operation Light Up Rural Nigeria on shaky start?

Michael Simire
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Operation Light Up Rural Nigeria on shaky start?

On January 2014, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan inaugurated operation “Light-Up Rural Nigeria” with a pledge to ensure constant power supply to Nigerians in rural areas, but investigations reveal that the project, which has a target of 111 villages by 2015, is yet to complete its pilot in just three villages of Abuja, six months after.

Solar platforms at Waru
Solar platforms at Waru

The project is aimed at using renewable energy to get electricity across to rural communities in all the 36 states of the federation, especially communities that are not connected to the national grid.

Minister of Power, Professor Chinedu Nebo, was reported to have said at the inauguration, “The first stage, which is the pilot stage, intends to utilise 100 per cent solar energy to power hundreds of communities. The second stage will incorporate wind energy as an integrated solution, as soon as our researches on the meteorological and technical specifications vis-a-vis demographics are completed. The final stage will include biomass as energy source.”

This pilot project, fully funded by the Federal Ministry of Power, is executed by an indigenous firm, Lordezetech Engineering, in conjunction with two foreign companies, Schneider and Philips.

Ifeanyi Ezeh, lead consultant to the Presidential Energy Reform Agenda on Power and Operation Light Up Rural Nigeria of the Federal Ministry of Power, had earlier said that the project was going fast and smooth with all the inhabitants of the pilot villages enjoying 24 hour lighting.

According to him, “The Ministry of Power has gone far. Not just that we have gone far, but we are happy with the outcome. Based on the fact that within the three villages that have been commissioned, I can assure you that none of these villages have ever for once witnessed a blink or fluctuation in their power supply (from solar).”

The three villages chosen for the pilot are Durumi Community in Bwari Area Council; and Waru and Shape communities both in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).

Shape is to get 200 kilowatts of solar power, Waru 150kilowatts, while Durumi gets 150 kilowatts too.

But on-sight investigations reveal that the project might not be able to meet its objectives as the government has not successfully completed the pilot stage.

The Waru community, one of the beneficiaries, is yet to enjoy the solar power like Shape and Durumi, as the engineers carrying out the project have not completed their work.

It was also discovered that Waru  is currently being connected to the national grid of PHCN even as the solar project is ongoing, thereby defeating the government’s aim of powering off-grid rural communities.

At the inauguration of the project, President Jonathan had said, “We are starting the year by giving light to our people especially in the rural communities. ‘Operation Light Up Rural Nigeria’ has been initiated under the second phase of our power sector reform programme planned for the post privatisation period.”

The President had mandated that, before the end of the year, at least 111 villages nationwide would be lighted up, comprising three rural communities in every senatorial district in Nigeria.

But it seems Waru Community which is just a few miles away from the other beneficiary community, Shape, is a blot in President Jonathan’s vision and optimism; and an epitome of failed projects in Nigeria.

Victoria, a petty trader in Waru, said in a sinking tone, “It has been a long time now since we saw the workmen coming here to mount the electricity poles for the solar project, but since then we have not seen any light. What we are hearing is that NEPA (i.e. PHCN) will give us light soon, because the village has bought a transformer.”

Another Waru resident named Osita said that, initially when the solar project started at the beginning of the year, there used to be lighting for the village from the streetlights mounted on the solar power poles of the solar workers, but the light had ceased for the past three months.

“That is why we have lost hope in the solar lights. There is no solar anywhere, we have been using generators; although we heard that it is working in other communities like Durumi. In fact, their pipes (the metal platforms constructed for the solar panels) are now used by women as clothe dryers!” he added.

When our correspondent visited the chief of Waru, Ibrahim A. Sarki, he disclosed that the village has obtained transformers through self-help efforts, which they hoped to be connected to the PHCN power lines soon.

In the major road that ran through Waru, the PHCN power lines could be seen standing parallel to the newly mounted solar power lines.

An Abuja-based solar technology expert who did not want his name mentioned on print was of the opinion that the situation has rubbished “the so-called Light Up Rural Nigeria” because, according to him, Waru community is not rural community by any standard.

“Waru is just a town in Abuja and it is not a rural community. Can you see the number of exotic cars entering the village daily? Those are the residents. They are not villagers. Neither is the community off-grid. You can see NEPA (PHCN) poles running through the streets,” the technician said.

“If the government is sincere and efficient, there are many off-grid communities that need these lights. They are in Gwagwalada, in Kuje, in Kwali. They are in many places in the FCT; not to mention in Nigeria. It is not enough to look for convenient communities very close to town, give them solar power, and go about saying you are lighting up the rural areas.”

On his part, the Waru Chief, Sarki, said that the village is happy with the government but from all indications the company handling the Light Up Rural Nigeria project in Waru were nonchalant in their attitude towards the ongoing solar electrification work in the village.

“For the past three months we have not seen any sign that the project is ongoing. But when they started, there was so much activities going on. In fact, right in front of my palace they mounted street lamps and everywhere is illuminated in the night.

“But today, it is very obvious that they have abandoned us. Look at the whole place, nothing significant is going on, although the Engineer told me the other day that they will soon conclude the work,” Sarki said.

Along the single water logged road in Waru, there were skeletons of solar panel platforms mounted ostensibly for the solar project, but now abandoned by the project executors.

There was one platform in front of the Chief’s palace, another nearby at a village centre, and another one, near the primary school by the local football field. However, the solar panel platform inside the Health Centre has been fully mounted with solar panels.

When our correspondent visited the completed solar panel platform, there were some workmen inside the Waru Health Centre who said they were still working on the project and that, soon, other skeletons would have solar panels and the project would be completed.

But Waru residents were not happy with the speed of construction which has been going on for over six months now. In fact, they said the “solar project’s failure” is why they are intensifying efforts to embrace PHCN power grid.

Yusuf Suleiman, an Abuja based solar technology expert, told EnviroNews Nigeria in a separate interview that the Federal Government is doing a great job in the Light Up Rural  Nigeria project, but needed to put more  experienced renewable energy specialists on its team in order to deploy more sustainable strategies.

He said the project must not be politicised, so that relevant communities, which are off-grid would be selected.

“There are many deep rural communities in the country, who need renewable energy for micro-enterprise and better livelihood. They are not near the cities, they are far-flung and variant. It needs expertise and selfless consideration to identify them, and effectively implement the project,” he said.

In the other two pilot villages of Shape and Durumi, it was all success stories.

The day our correspondent visited Shape, it was a rainy night and because there was neither moon nor stars in the gloomy sky, the entire surrounding en-route was pitch-dark.

The car veered off the tarred road by the left, about 7kilometres off the Apo Mechanic Village; and began a bumpy journey into a mud path to Shape village, as the road was barely lighted by the two circular white glows from the car head lamps.

The twists and turns through a mixture of stones and mud, and crisscrossing rain-formed springs across the un-tarred hilly route almost shoved the crew into a decision to make a u-turn rather than climb up towards the obscure community.

Just then, there appeared, as if from nowhere, what could only be described as a “city on a hill” right in the middle of the bushes on a high land drenched in the night rain; for all the brightness that oozed off the street lights which adorned the lucky FCT  village.

The first building on the undulating settlement housed an all-purpose shop, owned by a lady who rented the building for her business. But the irony is that for a solar powered village, the shop had an ‘I pass my neighbour’ generator humming in the background.

The lady, Miss Nwanyibuife, told our correspondent that her generator was an exception, because the whole village was solar-powered. She showed that the external lights in the building were solar powered by single solar panels snugly clipped to the zinc roof and wired to a battery box mounted on the wall exterior.

“I was not in my shop the day the village was wired that is why I only have exterior solar lighting. In the house where I live down the road, I can use my household gadgets because sockets were mounted for me by the engineers just like they did for other villagers.

“I have already called the engineers to fix sockets for my shop, so very soon they will fix them for me. In this village, everybody is enjoying solar. We use our TV, our fans, and we charge our phones with it.”

The Chief of Shape, Yakubu Kuruzhi, who later welcomed EnviroNews Nigeria into his palace, echoed the words of Nwanyibuife.

“As you can see, we are all enjoying 24 hours power supply free from the Federal Government’s solar project. Although we cannot use heavy household equipment like refrigerators, fridges, electrical iron, cookers, etc.

“The President himself came here to this village to launch this project. We are benefitting from it today. In fact, two of the villagers have been engaged by the engineers to work with them.”

The village chief sat in his long couch in his palace which looked every inch a house in the city just because there was electricity lighting everywhere: there was music, there was fan, and there was television, in a village which ordinarily would not have experienced such because it was rural community and totally off-grid.

The village paths were criss-crossed by metallic poles meshed with electric wires for the solar lighting and on some poles were mounted energy efficient street lamps which are switched on every evening to illuminate the village till morning.

Right in the centre of the village square near the chief’s palace is a statue of President Jonathan erected beside the solar panels and power back up central station for the village.

The whole atmosphere is not only evocative of the aura of just another Abuja town simply because of its status as a freshly transformed solar village, but there still lingers that presidential air, because actually The Number One Citizen of Nigeria did actually visit Shape to inaugurate the solar project sometime earlier in the year.

With the whole residents in the beneficiary villages enjoying full power without paying for them, the issue of maintenance and sustainability of the project was a concern to our investigators.

Eze addressed it thus: “Actually maintenance is a major problem for the solar industry in Nigeria regarding deployment of solar technology. The fact is that many unprofessional technicians went into solar energy, just to come in and make money. But some of us are looking at sustainability.

“In my own system, we have what is called solar fault detecting gadget; which enables you to detect any fault in the solar equipment without even loosing the circuit. All you need to do is to plug it and through a digital collative display you see where the fault is. If it is from the system, if it is accumulation, LED, switches, etc. you will know.

“Regarding payment, currently I am working on a metering system, a digital system that will enable the individuals to pay as they consume. It will be ready in the nearest future. For now it is free. But the President has made it known that soon a policy will be ready with regard to the management of these systems so that people will be paying for the energy they consume.”

 

By Greg Odogwu

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