Terseer Ugbor, the deputy chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Environment, says he is hopeful that Nigeria’s participation in the ongoing COP28 in Dubai, UAE, will be a success story.

Mr Ugbor, who fielded questions from journalists on Thursday in Abuja, said he was optimistic that Nigeria’s delegation at COP 28 would negotiate good deals for the country.

The legislator explained, “I am expressing optimism that Nigeria will return to COP29 by 2024 with a success story on all the achievements made after COP28. COP28 has been successful so far; Nigeria has participated very actively. I am here to ensure that Nigeria gets the best benefits from COP28.

“At COP28, the loss and damage fund has been established and implemented, and I hope that Nigeria can benefit as much as possible from this fund to invest in some of the mitigation and adaptation challenges that we have in the country.”

Mr Ugbor claimed his engagement at COP28 would attract findings that would bring a lasting solution to the crisis in Benue by building homes for the displaced persons and providing nutritional diets for the malnourished children.

Mr Ugbor commended all the stakeholders at COP 28 and urged them to bring home worthy outcomes from the conference.

The lawmaker added, “The issue of farmers-herders clashes has become a perennial problem in this country; the agricultural sector is heavily affected because farmers have been unable to farm as they used to, and this is affecting our food security in the country.

“It is important that we do not only look at the issue from the point of religious or ethno-religious crisis but also from the environmental and economic aspect. Climate change has affected us in so many ways; it has affected our agricultural sector and our ways of life and has also contributed to the herder-farmer conflicts that we are facing in the country.”

Mr Ugbor said the farmer-herder clashes were largely due to socio-economic issues as a fight for survival.

“Farmers fight for land, and herders fight for water; unfortunately, many researchers have attributed ethno-religious to the clashes that we are facing in Nigeria,” the lawmaker explained. “This is why, for me personally, we are currently developing a documentary that highlights and showcases some of the challenges that we are facing as a result of the climate change and desertification that happened in the north, in the Sahel region.”

This has caused the migration of herders from the north to the south, resulting in the conflict that they face in Benue and other parts of the North Central of Nigeria, according to Mr Ugbor.

“I believe that once our people get the information right, we have the answers to our questions, and we get the right solutions to the problems that we are facing, our challenges will be surmounted,” the lawmaker added. 

(NAN)