Climate Change: Tinubu’s appointment raises legal and implementation concerns

On May 19, following the establishment of the Presidential Committee on Climate Action and Green Economic Solutions, President Bola Tinubu appointed his spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, as Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Action (SPEC).

The President has equally empowered the SPEC office to serve as the country’s lead negotiator on climate-related issues, lead negotiator on carbon market and governance initiatives, the supervisory interface between the National Climate Change Council Secretariat (NCCC) and the NCCC Oversight Council , and act as coordinator of all climate action-related activities across ministries, departments, agencies, legislative entities and sub-national levels.

While the presidential committee is expected to coordinate and oversee the country’s climate action and green economic development policies and programs at the local and international levels, its assigned responsibilities overlap with and conflict with applicable provisions of the country’s Climate Change Act. The bill was introduced in 2021 by Tinubu’s predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari.

In section 3, paragraph Section 1 of the Act establishes the Nigerian Climate Change Council (NCCC). It gives the NCCC the power to formulate policy and make decisions on all matters relating to climate change in Nigeria.

A PREMIUM TIMES review of Nigeria’s Climate Change Act indicates that President Tinubu’s directive allows SPEC to assume the duties of the country’s NCCC Director General under the 2021 Climate Change Act.

Mr. Tinubu also approved the appointment of Nkiruka Maduekwe as NCCC MD/CEO in an interim capacity pending the confirmation of her appointment by the NCCC Board of Directors.

Ms. Maduekwe’s appointment, although yet to be ratified, came less than two weeks after Salisu Dahiru, the fired NCCC director general, and his team were tasked with representing Nigeria at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Bonn SB 60, settled in 3- June 13 in Germany.

Therefore, Mr. Dahiru, who was the pioneer DG of the NCCC appointed by Mr. Tinubu’s predecessor and who would have completed two years in the position by July, would not be able to serve his four-year term as stipulated in the Act.

The president’s recent appointments and guidance on climate issues have sparked debates among climate change experts who question the rationale behind the president’s decisions at a time when the country needs people with deep knowledge and extensive experience in climate negotiations to represent the country at the global stage in order to achieve green growth and sustainable development in the country.

Some experts who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES argued that instead of the president appointing committees and bodies with similar functions and roles, it would be much better and cheaper to strengthen the NCCC with a statutory mandate to perform its roles/functions.

Others have raised concerns about Mr Ngelale’s experience and ability to lead Nigeria’s climate negotiations and achieve the country’s climate change goals as enshrined in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) document submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Nigeria Climate Change Act

At the 26th edition of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) held in Glasgow, Scotland in 2021, former President Muhammadu Buhari announced the 2060 net zero emissions target.

Just a week after the conference, Buhari signed the Climate Change Bill 2021. It was ratified and passed by the National Assembly in October 2021.

The Act provides a legal framework to achieve low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and integrate climate change actions into national plans and programs.

Apart from establishing the NCCC, which has the power to make policies and decisions on all issues related to climate change in Nigeria, the bill also states that the NCCC will work with the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to develop a carbon tax and trade mechanism emission allowances in Nigeria.

The proceeds include, among others: will be used to finance the Climate Fund proposed by law.

The powers of the council provided for in Art. 4 of the Act, it is responsible for coordinating the implementation of sectoral goals and guidelines in the field of regulating greenhouse gas emissions and other causes of climate change, approving and supervising the implementation of the Action Plan and administering the Climate Change Fund established in accordance with the Act.

The Act also authorizes the NCCC to recommend legislative, policy, appropriation, and other measures for climate change adaptation, mitigation, and related activities.

Meanwhile, Art. 5 section 1 of the Act details the composition of the council, which includes the President (Chairman), Vice-President (Vice-Chairman), Director General of the National Climate Change Council (who will be the Secretary), Ministers responsible for various sectors such as the environment, petroleum resources, budget and national planning, justice, mines and steel development, finance, agriculture and rural development, energy, women’s affairs, transport, water resources and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria etc.

However, the members of the recently formed President’s Commission on Climate Action and Green Economic Solutions differ from the NCCC. The committee consists of both statutory members of the NCCC and non-statutory members.

However, the commission’s mandates overlap and conflict with the council’s functions. For example, according to Art. 4 letter j) of the Act, the council is authorized to cooperate with relevant ministries in order to develop and implement a mechanism for trading carbon dioxide emission allowances.

Similarly, the Presidential Committee is tasked with identifying, developing and implementing innovative non-oil and gas climate action initiatives and working with national governments and multilateral institutions to achieve the government’s climate action goals and carbon market ambitions.

Legal observations

This overlap raises legal and moral questions on the necessity of establishing a presidential committee when the statutory existence of the NCCC already covers these areas, argued Kazeem Oyinwola, an Abuja-based lawyer at Amofin Solicitors.

“If there is a 25-member Presidential Committee with similar mandates, what justifies the existence of the NCCC? What responsibilities remain for the NCCC?” Mr. Oyinwola asked.

Additionally, Oyinwola said the role of the Presidential Special Envoy includes serving as the primary liaison with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Ministry of Finance, Federal Ministry of Energy, Federal Ministry of Environment and other critical institutions regarding the administration and coordination of climate activities related to donor financing, energy financing renewable energy and management of ecological industrial development.

“These ministries are statutory members of the NCCC. So what is the legal basis for a non-NCCC member to be the primary contact with NCCC statutory members? What law authorizes the president in this regard?” – argued the lawyer.

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Mr. Oyinwola submitted that the council was empowered under Section 4(a). a), b) and c) to coordinate the implementation of sectoral targets and guidelines for the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, to approve and supervise the implementation of the action plan and to administer the Climate Change Fund established under the Act.

Meanwhile, the terms of reference of the Presidential Special Envoy include serving as “the central authority for all non-executive activities relating to the activities of the NCCC, with delegated authority to oversee the activities and operations of the NCCC Secretariat for frequent reporting to the President” between meetings of the NCCC Oversight Board.”

This, Oyinwola said, suggests that a special envoy would oversee a statutory body, “and what is the current role of the supervisory board and what other responsibilities do the CEO of the board have?”

He stressed that the roles and functions of the NCCC and its Director-General are set out in the Climate Change Act and that the creation of the Presidential Commission on Climate Change and the Special Envoy mandate issued by the President create overlap and potential conflict.

Climate experts respond

Commenting on the president’s recent climate-related nominations/credentials, Nnimmo Bassey, director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), who has over a decade of experience in COP negotiations, said: “What is happening during the president’s term is very disturbing.

“The government appears to view climate change as an avenue for transactional activity for private sector speculators.”

He added that appointing a presidential envoy and establishing a commission with such broad powers destroys existing structures or turns them into lame ducks.

“There does not appear to be a deep understanding that climate diplomacy or climate leadership requires experience and is not ceremonial,” the environmentalist noted.

When it comes to climate negotiations, Bassey said the government cannot ignore the fact that the negotiator “must be engaged at moments like the climate COP, and the chief negotiator must be on hand at all times.”

“COPs are not an arena for seeking projects or a place for signing memorandums of understanding as we often see,” he added, arguing that Nigeria cannot suddenly wake up to a structure that, with intent and purpose, changes both the National Climate Change Commission and Ministry of Environment in the usual additions.

“The government appears to want to engage in deals in the name of climate change action. We see this in both the so-called green economy approach and the Evergreen industrial concept,” Bassey told PREMIUM TIMES.

However, he said, appointing a commercial entity to lead and make decisions on the proposed green industrial zone is very concerning because it could overshadow the control that should be exercised by related agencies.

Bassey said the government was signaling a plan to treat climate change as a way to claim subsidies, promote financial speculation and put people at greater risk.

For his part, Sulaimon Arigbabu, executive secretary of the HEDA Resource Center, described the president’s appointment and the enormous powers and responsibilities given to the office of the Special Envoy for Climate Change as “disturbing” in many respects.

He said the move represents a disruption to the semblance of the structure of Nigeria’s climate governance system after many years of advocacy and clamor.

“The powers given to the Special Envoy simply undermine the NCCC. We expected that the president would consolidate and establish the NCCC, which would become the country’s clearing house for climate policy and governance, but this did not happen,” he added.

Similarly, Arigbabu said the appointment of the special envoy and the defined roles are creating political confusion among all stakeholders in Nigeria and beyond.