By Innocent Onah
In recent months, some of the world’s leading development and financial institutions have stepped up to be part of an unfolding environmental story in Nigeria, which has taken bold steps to become a leader in green growth on the continent.
The African Development Bank is playing a leading role in these efforts, having pinpointed green growth as an overarching objective in its 2020-2024 Country Strategy Paper for Africa’s largest economy. In July 2020, the Bank, in collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria, established a Nigeria Circular Economy Working Group, becoming the first multilateral development bank to support a robust circular economy agenda, in an effort to help Africa’s economic giant build resilience as it recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Working Group is a voluntary think tank made up of technocrats from government, development partners, the private sector, academia, and civil society, whose collective aim is to support inclusive green growth in Nigeria through the circular economic model, which calls for more efficient resource management to minimize the impact of human consumption on the natural environment.
Illustration of a Linear-Circular Economic Relationship in the proposed Nigeria Circular Economy Program
Source: NCEWG 2020
Since the group was formed in 2020, it has grown from a small club of 20 to 63 at last count. Members include the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the EU Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, the Dangote Group, Access Bank Plc, the Central Bank of Nigeria, and a host of NGOs.
What has drawn these partners together? For one, as a signatory to the Paris climate agreement and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Nigeria has drawn up regulations(link is external) and economic policies that make its intentions clear. It has enacted new plastics waste management policies(link is external), and last year approved a $5.9 billion Economic Sustainability Plan(link is external) that includes measures to advance green growth.
Green growth and climate-smart solutions are economic and existential imperatives. In 2018 alone, Nigeria experienced flood disasters that affected 12 states, over 300,000 people and 60 hectares of farmland, according to the Bank’s Country Strategy Paper 2020-2024. Furthermore, the country faces a substantial bill of $10 billion per year if it is to meet Paris Agreement obligations known as Nationally Determined Contributions, according to the Bank’s assessment. Nigeria has ambitious plans to become one of the top 20 economies in the world. However, that goal will be hampered if climate change is not addressed, Bank analysts believe.
Funding Nigeria’s climate requirements will require decisive action, strategic partnerships, and an environment where a thriving private sector is free to develop innovative new business models. The Nigeria Circular Economy Working Group is playing its part to promote economic models that change production and consumption systems and promote efficiency in the use of Nigeria’s abundant natural resources.
The Working Group’s immediate milestone for 2021 is to develop a 10-year green growth framework that contributes to a gradual transition to a greener economy. The Bank, in partnership with the Green Growth Knowledge Platform(link is external) and the Government of Netherlands(link is external), has also launched research to take stock of all ongoing circular economy and natural capital activities in the country, and recommend workable scenarios that can attract circular public and private investments.
The government’s efforts are already bearing fruit. The African Development Bank’s 2021 African Economic Outlook suggests that the Nigerian government’s green growth-friendly Economic Sustainability Program offset the country’s economic losses in 2020. In 2021, it is expected that the government’s economic program will boost non-oil revenues.
This is indeed the beginning of a new chapter in Nigeria – an oil giant looking to make a clean break from its past.
Author – Dr. Innocent Onah is a sustainability expert with over 15 years of experience working at the intersection of sustainable business investments, governance of natural resources, climate change, and the green economy. He is currently the Climate Change & Green Growth Expert at the Nigeria Country Department of the African Development Bank and jointly coordinates the Nigeria Circular Economy Working Group of individual and institutional partners, supporting a robust circular economy agenda for Nigeria.
SOURCE