The North-East region is a typical extreme case of Nigeria’s version of climate change, reveling in ecological imbalance accompanied by devastating consequences, Managing Director of the North-East Development Commission (NEDC), Mohammed Alkali, has declared.
Alkali was speaking in Maiduguri, Borno State capital, saying said the region has been grappling with an unprecedented number of “climate induced migrations” occasioned by the multifaceted effects of climate change.
The NEDC boss listed the effects to include desertification, drought, flood and shrinkage of the Lake Chad basin – which put the region in a dire strait.
“We are seeing the effects of climate change that has exacerbated different conflicts in the North-East from the insurgency to communal conflicts over the years.
“The drying up of the Lake Chad, the southward expansion of the Sahara Desert, floods being experienced across many states, menace of the herdsmen/farmer clashes necessitated by the diminishing availability of forests and grazing lands, are all obvious problems associated with climate change in the region,” he said.
Also speaking, Hajiya Falmata Mustapha, a Director in the Lake Chad Research Institute, said the women would be sensitised on effects of climate change and how use of energy-efficient stoves.
She said the participants would be provided with fuel-efficient stoves at the end io the exercise, adding that it was designed with 43 per cent thermal efficiency.
The Director urged Borno government and other stakeholders to work towards enhancing access to energy-efficient stove to control environmental pollution and deforestation.
