The Minister of State for Environment, Kunle Salako, says the courageous decision by Bola Tinubu’s administration to remove fuel subsidy has reduced the country’s consumption rate by about 33 per cent.
Salako told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York that the action has reduced the emission generated by petrol.
“The singular action has reduced Nigeria’s consumption of petrol by 33 per cent, and reduced the level of emission generated by Nigerians,” he said.
According to him, that decision by the president was furthering climate action by Nigeria.
“It has also focused the attention of Nigeria at corporate and individual levels to renewable energy,’’ Salako added.
Earlier in his statement delivered to the “High Level Event for Nature and People: from Ambition to Action”, on behalf of the President, Salako said achieving the world’s ambitious conservation targets, like 30×30, would require that we all do more to prioritise nature finance.
30×30 is a global target to protect 30 per cent of the planet for nature by 2030.
“Last year, at COP15, the world agreed to fully close the nature finance gap and set a near term target of delivering at least $20 billion in international finance to the Global South by 2025.
“Last month in Addis, African countries came together and issued a declaration that underscored the importance of these nature finance targets.
“Nigeria would like to urge all countries to increase their efforts on this issue and to work with us to ensure that the world follows through on these crucial finance commitments.
“This is our vision for the future, and we invite everyone to act and envision solutions that will preserve nature for future générations,’’ he said.
According to him, as a responsible State Party to several Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), including the Convention on Biological Diversity, Nigeria is doing its utmost to promote transformation actions that are commensurate with the scale of the biodiversity crisis.
He announced that through Nigeria’s rallying efforts, the 55 member States of the African Union have reached a consensus to support ratification of the earliest feasible date, the new international ocean treaty for the high seas, as enshrined in the Addis Ababa Declaration.
The declaration was adopted at the 19th ordinary session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN-19, August 2023).
“Let us be bold for Oceans Conservation together and join the African region to promptly ratify the new treaty,’’ he said.
