Samuel Luka, Bauchi
Ahead of the November 8th Conference of Parties (COP27) meeting in Egypt, Non-Governmental organization, Global Initiative for Food Security and Ecosystem Preservation (GIFSEP) has in collaboration with Pastoral Resolve staged a Caravan march in Bauchi to demand for justice as world powers discuss issues of climate change in Egypt.
The event which was organized with the support of Oxfam in Nigeria had youth and other key stakeholders as participants.
Speaking during the event, Mr. Kenneth Akpan, Coordinator of African Activist for Climate Justice in Nigeria, said that the program was being sponsored by Oxfam in Nigeria.
He explained that the purpose of the caravan was to prepare for the upcoming Conference of Parties (COP27) in Egypt.
"COP27 is Conference of Parties where countries come together to take major decisions concerning climate change as it affects the world", he explained.
According to Kenneth, Nigeria is currently experiencing serious climate challenges, adding that, that informed their decision to draw awareness and create a forum where people can come together and galvanize their voices about the issue.
"We are here in Bauchi to stage this caravan and also to see how we can push this story and narrative in preparation for the Egypt 27 and by the time we go to Egypt this is the message we want to pass and say 'this is what our people are saying concerning the climate change and see how it can be taken seriously", he said.
"Our people are saying that the rich countries of the world should take seriously the case of climate financing and compensation or what we call climate mitigation because right now we are at the verge whereby people who have contributed little or nothing to this climate change are suffering more", he said.
Kenneth said, there should be more commitment by world powers to financing communities to enable them take care of themselves.
"We are talking about resilience, how can they be resilient about the climate change because it has come to stay with us. We are calling on the governments of rich countries to take the plights of our people with all seriousness", the Coordinator maintained.
He added that the Caravan also want the Nigerian government and those who are representing Nigeria and Africa at the conference of Parties to also put into consideration, National contribution for countries where they made contributions and commitments year-in year-out.
"Let them take seriously the plights of our people, we want more climate financing, we want more seriousness when it comes to financing our people, we want those rich countries to start showing action, to back up their words with action", he demanded.
Also speaking, the Bauchi state chairman of BASNEC, Alhaji Jinjiri Garba thanked the NGOs for coming in to contribute in the discussion about climate change.
He said as a result of the negative effect of climate change, five local governments of Bauchi state were seriously affected by flood this year, lamenting that the government has not been taking proactive measures towards preventing indiscriminate tree felling.
On his part, the project manager of Pastoral Resolve (PARE), Mr. Shuaibu Aliyu Kobi said that the project is all about seeking for justice regarding the climate change issue.
"Like you have heard from my colleague, Bauchi is one of the states that was badly affected by flood as a result of this global warming and most of the activities that leads to global warming is not caused by our people, it is caused by developed countries", he said.
Mr Kobi noted, "that is why we seeking for justice, especially climate financing, we want more financing in a resilient developmental Programmes for our people to benefit"..
"You can see that a lot of farmers have been affected because of the flood as caused by climate change, so we need action so that our people can be empowered to continue with their normal life", he demanded.
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