Participants at the national conference on climate change have called on the federal government to mainstream climate change as a subject in the educational curriculum.

This is contained in a communiqué signed by Akinbode Oluwafemi, the executive director of the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA), at the end of a two-day national conference in Abuja.

The participants said making the curriculum conventional became necessary as it would spur interest among the youth and breed a generation of environmentally conscious activists.

“Climate change must be mainstreamed into the country’s educational curriculum to spur interests among the youth and breed a generation of environmentally conscious activists. There is a need to simplify the prevailing climate change policy documents for easy assimilation and engaging of the younger generation,” said the statement. 

It noted the need for training of Nigerian journalists to report climate change in-depth, to expose false solutions and to sustain a spotlight on real solutions to the crisis, calling for “a Nigeria climate watchdog comprising frontline communities, civil society, development experts, the academia and the media, among other crucial stakeholders.”

The communique further mentioned that this would assist in interrogating Nigeria’s climate change response pathway and advance the energy transition campaign.

According to the communique, there is a need to protect the rights of the indigenous people, the original landowners whose culture and livelihood are eroded.

“The re-invention of the Nigeria Social Forum is important, and the same must accommodate sub-demands in the environment and climate change space. Alliance building, partnerships, and engagement with the National Climate Change Council, the African Group of Negotiators, and the UNFCCC processes should be strengthened,” the statement further explained, stressing the need to constitute a team that will develop “defined granular” activities with the mandate to coordinate, prioritise and engage relevant state actors on a jointly developed climate change agenda. 

The communique disclosed that the team would draw up a manifesto on critical intervention areas as a body of work for sustained engagement.

(NAN)