President Tinubu Urges Global Action to Combat Climate Change Threats

By Timothy Choji

President Bola Tinubu has warned against the dangers of climate change, describing it as a driver of insecurity that poses a veritable challenge to sustainable development around the world.

The President made the call while addressing world leaders during the General Debate of the ongoing 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York.

The President stressed that no country can isolate itself from the consequences of climate change, thus the need for collective action.

He said: “Climate change is a driver of insecurity, which also poses a veritable challenge to sustainable development. A few weeks ago, large areas of my country were inundated by seasonal flood waters, including one of our largest cities, Maiduguri, in the North-East. Other parts of Nigeria also experienced similar tragedies, occasioning the loss of lives and property.

“We need not remind ourselves to remain faithful to the implementation of the commitments that we all gave voluntarily at the various COP Meetings. Failure to do so is merely to postpone the inevitable. No country is immune from the effects of climate change.

“It is better that we cooperate and collaborate to meet this ever-increasing challenge rather than remaining in our shells, waiting for the inevitable to happen. A common challenge requires a common solution.”

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President Tinubu assured the international community of Nigeria’s commitment to its obligations towards addressing the effects of climate change.

“Nigeria stands ready to meet her obligations in terms of mitigation and adaptation measures nationally and regionally, with the active participation of other countries and international partners,” he assured.

The Nigerian leader implored the international community to stick to the implementation of the commitments made at the various COP meetings, pointing out that failure to do so would amount to postponing the inevitable, as no country is immune from the effects of climate change.

Conflict Prevention

The President, who observed that conflict prevention is the main reason why the UN was established, regretted that the task of preventing these conflicts has become difficult following their normalization “when even the condemnation of violence and civilian casualties, and calls for a ceasefire, are somehow regarded as controversial.”

He listed some of the root causes of conflicts to include poverty, hunger, ignorance, inequality and exclusion, as well as other forms of injustice, just as he cited the conflict in Sudan and the war in Gaza and other Palestinian territories.

“What this tells us is that the international community has failed to live up to the spirit and aspirations of the United Nations to rid the world of inequality, violence and domination of one people by another. Justice is antithetical to revenge,” he stated.