Buhari to attend climate change conference in Poland

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari will on Saturday, December 1, depart Abuja for Katowice, Poland, to attend the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP24) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) December 2-4, 2018.

The COP24 Summit, which will be held at the International Conference Centre (MCK) and the adjacent Spodek Arena in Katowice, is being convened by the Presidency of Poland.

During his trip to Poland, President Buhari will hold an interactive session with the Nigerian community.

He is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with the President of Poland Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

The President will be accompanied by Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Yahaya Bello and Abubakar Sani Bello of Enugu, Kogi and Niger States, respectively.

Others on his entourage include the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, and the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibrin.

According to the organisers, the conference is expected to finalize the rules for the implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change under the Paris Agreement Work Programme (PAWP) – the rule book for implementation.

Presidential spokesman Femi Adesina said Buhari, during the Leaders’ Summit at COP24, will deliver a national statement highlighting Nigeria’s commitment to addressing climate change by implementing the goals set out in its National Determined Contributions.

Adesina said the president will use the occasion to accentuate Nigeria’s willingness to work with international partners to reverse the negative effects of climate change in Africa and the world.

“Nigeria has been at the forefront of advancing policies and initiatives aimed at addressing significant challenges occasioned by climate change such as reviving the Lake Chad, halting and reversing desertification, flooding, ocean surge and oil spillage,” Adesina said.

He noted that Buhari will “reiterate Nigeria’s position on the need for African countries to access financial resources, especially the Green Climate Fund to draw up climate change adaptation policies and actions for implementation.”