By Fatima Saka
The federal government of Nigeria has raised concerns on the depletion of the habitants, urging society and stakeholders to take responsibility in protection, preservation and conservation of the environment.
This follows in a communique issued after the two days retreat held in Kaduna from Thursday 11th to 12 Friday January 2024,by signed Mallam Stanley Jonah,
Director Planning Research and Statistics.
Revolving around the theme “Policy Embedment and Synergy of Prioritized Action for a Renewed Hope in Environmental Management”.
The Ministerial Retreat was attended by eighty-three (83) delegates from the Ministry’s Departments, Agencies, Programmes and special projects, critical stakeholders from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF), Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Development Partners as well as seasoned Resource Persons.
According to the communique, the objectives of the retreat include: “Sharing the vision and the expectations of the Presidential Deliverables in the context of the Renewed Hope Agenda with the top management team of the Ministry.
“Build consensus on the strategies and approaches to deliver key deliverables of the signed Presidential Performance bond.
“Build the capacity of the top management team, directors, head of agencies, and other key officials of the Federal Ministry of Environment on policy embedment, coordination, and team building.
“Develop the capacity of the participants in the performance management system and unbundle the Presidential performance targets to the relevant departments and agencies.
“Strengthen the capacity of the various departments, agencies, projects and units of the ministry in resource mobilization strategies and innovative financing of the mandates of the Federal Ministry of Environment; Provide opportunity for the Honourable Ministers to have unrestricted understanding of opportunities and barriers to implementation and proffer quick win solutions.”
Aims of the Ministers
It is also stated in the communique that the Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal delivered the Opening Speech, in the highlight of which include; ‘the link between security challenges and climate change, the need for synergy between all Departments and agencies of the Ministry and illegal activities of bandits in our forest reserves.
Emphasizing on the need for reinforcement of the forest guards in line with the vision of Mr. President to rid our forests of bandits.
Also, Minister of State for Environment, Dr. Iziaq Salako delivered a paper titled “Going Greener in 2024-2027: Mobilizing collective actions to Green the Renewed Hope Agenda.
” The paper identified the adequacy of the 1999 constitution, the Renewed hope Agenda and other extant legislations to drive the mandate of the ministry. The paper also identified the need for personal actions from all Nigerians to drive the climate agenda of the country.”
Technical Sessions
According to the communique, the technical session of the retreat commenced with paper presentations and panel discussions on the following topics:
“Repurposing the System for result through Change Management
Enhancing Performance Management System to promote accountability in the system.
“Strategic Communication and conflict management as enablers of productivity.
“Climate Financing for priority mandates of the Ministry for impact in achieving Green Economy.
“Synopsis of the Medium-Term Strategic Roadmap of the Ministry as well as the roadmap to concrete Actions.
“Understanding the public procurement process – the principles and practice of public procurement.
The communique also stated that panel discussions and group work were also held on Circular Economy implementation, Climate Finance and team building.”
President Tinubu Determination
According to the communique, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is determined and committed to improving the socio-economic condition of all Nigerians through the eight presidential priorities and focus areas;
“The active participation of Mr. President at COP 28 is an affirmation of his commitment to environmental sustainability;
“The Federal Ministry of Environment is mandated to drive the actualization of Mr. President’s vision through its 18 assigned deliverables and 48 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs);
“In order to achieve these 18 deliverables and KPIs, all Departments and Agencies must synergize;
‘That the vision must be cascaded to the sub-nationals, organized private sector, civil society organizations and all Nigerians;
“Funding is a critical element for the achievement of these deliverables;
“That effective Communication and conflict management mechanism are needed to cascade management decisions to all levels of staff in order to deliver on the Ministerial Mandates;
“There is need to build capacities, provide frameworks and collaborate with relevant stakeholders to access additional funding for environmental sustainability; and
“There is a need to expand our current strategy for circular management of waste to capture small scale producers and the informal sector in the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Programme.
Resolutions of the Retreat
According to the communique, the retreat resolved as follows:
“All Departments, Agencies, Programmes and special projects of the Ministry shall work collaboratively for the actualization of the Ministry’s mandated deliverables derived from the Presidential priorities;
“For sustainable waste management, a ‘’Circular Nigeria Committee’’ chaired by the Director-General of NESREA was constituted to facilitate the implementation of the Circular Economy roadmap.
“To prioritize mentorship, institutional knowledge transfer and effective succession plan;
“Procurement Plans shall be completed early and submitted to the relevant Agencies of government to ensure timely release of funds.
“To discontinue the use of single use plastic within the Federal Ministry of Environment and its Agencies to drive a culture of waste reduction. In addition, staff of the Ministry and its agencies were requested to demonstrate leadership by example by implementing other personal climate actions in their environment.
“To fast track the issuance of the 3rd Sovereign Green Bond in 2024.
“To implement programmes for capacity development, staff mobilization, performance tracking and strengthening of relationships between supervising officers and their subordinates as key strategy to enhance performance;
“To accelerate the development of the 2024 – 2027 Ministry’s Strategic Roadmap; ix. The retreat culminated in the signing of performance bond with the Ministers and Permanent Secretary by Heads of Departments and Agencies for the delivery of the prioritized mandates of the Ministry”
I salute the efforts of our noble ministers(Environment ), especially their concern for protecting and improving our environment by planting more trees to reduce the menace of desertification and erosion control. I want to appeal to you to please include my organization(Kano Afforestation program – KNAP)in the implementation of Afforestation programs, this is because my organization in the past played a major role in fighting desertification and erosion control by establishing over 150 shelter belts and plantations of various species, nurseries and empowerment programmes about afforestation activity .