PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Onuigbo / The Sun Nigeria / CCDA-XIV
Onuigbo: Africa Needs Lasting Climate Institutions, Not Just Pledges

Former federal lawmaker and sponsor of Nigeria’s Climate Change Act 2021, Hon. Sam Onuigbo, has called on African nations to build strong, durable climate institutions that will outlive political administrations.

Onuigbo made the call while speaking at the 14th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-XIV) ongoing at the UN Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The conference, holding from September 7 to 9, is themed “From Pledges to Implementation: The Belém–Antalya–Addis Roadmap.”

According to him, climate action on the continent must move beyond speeches and conference declarations to be anchored on legislation, long-term national planning, dedicated budgetary provisions, and strong institutional oversight.

He urged African governments to transition from reactive disaster response to anticipatory risk management by investing in flood mapping, early warning systems, improved drainage, dam safety, wetlands protection, proper land-use planning and climate-resilient infrastructure.

Adaptation, he noted, should not be measured by the number of projects announced but by how much vulnerability, deaths and economic losses are reduced.

Onuigbo stressed that Africa’s climate leadership must extend beyond COP negotiations to include national and regional parliaments, ministries, development banks, universities, technical agencies, civil society, the private sector and local governments.

He outlined five key areas where Africa must exert greater influence in global climate governance:

1. Control of Climate Finance: He called for stronger African participation in setting accreditation and disbursement rules for multilateral funds such as the Green Climate Fund, Adaptation Fund and Loss and Damage Fund, with more direct access for capable African development banks and national climate funds.

2. Fair Finance Terms: He said focus must shift from headline pledges to the structure of finance — whether it comes as grants or loans, the cost of capital, and who controls access. Finance that deepens Africa’s debt or creates dependency on external intermediaries, he warned, cannot deliver climate justice.

3. Carbon Markets: Onuigbo urged Africa to play a stronger role in shaping rules under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement to ensure carbon finance drives industrialisation, land restoration, community development and environmental integrity.

4. Climate-Trade Alignment: He called for closer coordination between climate and trade policies to address emerging climate-linked trade measures like Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanisms.

He warned that without strategic coordination among climate negotiators, trade ministries and the AfCFTA Secretariat, global climate rules could become new non-tariff barriers to African exports.
SOURCE: The Sun Nigeria –