Rising Up to Create a Sustainable Nigeria

Africa did not achieve many of the Century Development Goals. This was due to the fact of poor governance and also the inability of many governments to stimulate sustainable development.

The Environmentally friendly Development Goals give the continent a new opportunity to achieve a new set of objectives. These include stimulating equitable growth, protecting environmental surroundings, and delivering quality affordable and reliable infrastructure.

Contrary to the prevailing trend in Africa, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari’s government seems keen to focus on these goals. During the adoption of the new goals at the United Nations, he explained they offered an opportunity to deal with unfinished business.

Buhari urged fellow member states to continue the fight to finish poverty and to deal with new threats to peace. He committed Nigeria to combating issues detrimental to the economy as well as ecosystems created by the demand for oil. He said:

In Nigeria, we have seen extreme weather variations, rising ocean levels, encroaching desertification, excessive rainfall, erosion and floods, land degradation. All threaten the ecosystem. These developments have disastrous human costs and they are affecting food security, livelihoods and the very survival of our people.

To address this we have developed a national policy to guide Nigeria’s reaction to climate change. Our response is extensively based on the twin strategy of minimization and adaptation.

Why sustainability matters

Sustainability has turned into a new mantra – a viewpoint of sorts.

The broad look at sustainability emphasises the need to balance ecological, social and economic factors.

There is a direct link to searching for sustainable development. This is a improvement, which does not disadvantage future generations. In addition, it recognises the actual nested interdependency between the economy, society and the environment.

In other words, the economy’s success is dependent on society’utes viability. In addition, society’s achievement links to the environment’s viability. This is very much at the heart of the new goals.

The emergence of sustainability in Nigeria’s politics discourse is a welcome rise in a number of ways. First, Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa. The main focus therefore gives a degree of authenticity and importance to the durability movement in Africa.

Second, it sets the Nigerian economy and society on the new path, which until recently has either been ignored, or not mainstreamed. It offers a new mental space to rethink economic growth and social development. In practical terms, this means considering issues of sustainability in government policies and choices.

Exactly how to embed sustainability factors, is still up for discussion. This requires further exploration and consideration given the composition associated with Buhari’s government and the ministerial investment portfolios.

Energy and infrastructure sector

By merging the ability, housing and works ministries, the federal government can take a different approach and push a broader durability agenda.

Ongoing reforms in the energy sector offer an opportunity to add sustainability thinking and practices by ensuring players abide by best practice. This shouldn’t be missed.

The first concern is to rethink Nigeria’s power mix in a way that meets longer-term goals. At the moment, it stands at approximately 75% gas and 25% hydro. The government can provide incentives and create an enabling environment for change.

Incentives might include corporate tax breaks as well as increased research and development investment in energy and facilities. The aim would be to encourage companies to explore opportunities in alternative energy, clean technologies and non-urban electrification.

There is also the opportunity to inform and influence housing projects. 1 innovative approach would be via encouraging the development of eco-friendly and affordable housing.

Another critical ministry is transport. Traffic menace is one of the main problems confronting many metropolitan areas in Africa. This is particularly true in Lagos, Nigeria’s economic funds. A significant amount of productive time sheds daily to traffic in the city.

Poor transport infrastructure is not good for business and the economic climate. The new goals emphasise the need for quality, reliable and tough infrastructure. This includes regional and transborder infrastructure to support development having a focus on affordable and equitable access.

The ministry of transportation is within good stead to key in to this trend. It should open up opportunities for the private sector to provide transport that meets financial, social and environmental demands. This could happen through public-private partnerships under an effective and pragmatic regulatory framework.

Petroleum and minerals

The ministries associated with petroleum resources and strong minerals also offer interesting possibilities. These two sectors are at the actual core of the extractive industry, which is fraught with sustainability challenges. These range from environmental degradation to community unrest.

Although the sector seems to be ahead of the others within adopting sustainability practices, more needs to be done. This could be achieved through effective regulation, enforcement and monitoring.

These ministries need innovative collaboration to avoid the danger of silo thinking. This is a real risk. One possibility is to have the co-ordinating responsibility of managing collaboration domiciled in the Vice President’s office.

Support for this office could be by:

* the Ministry of Environment given the pivotal importance of environmental sustainability; and

* the Office associated with Budgeting and National Planning, given the importance of embedding social, financial, and environmental considerations within national policies.

Beyond the ministerial portfolios, there is also room for regulating agencies to play a role.

How Nigeria is capable of growth that’s more fair and eco-friendly is republished with permission from The Conversation