By Tony Obiechina, Abuja

The Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the National Council on Climactic Change (NCCC) on Monday Signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to boost country’s Climate Agenda.

As part of the agreement signing ceremony, the NSIA released its Maiden Impact Report which outlines the progress made towards the attainment of the Authority’s developmental and socio-economic impact as of 2021.

The Report which highlights the development impact of NSIA’s operations and investments since inception, shows that the Authority delivered impactful initiatives consistent with the target outcomes for 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The MoU emphasizes the urgency of immediate and ambitious action to address climate risks and to hasten the attainment of the shared objectives between the NSIA and NCCC.

It also serves to allow the signing parties to further explore potential areas of collaboration which include, the development of a climate change framework to provide guidelines for regulating emissions in Nigeria, the implementation of a carbon emissions trading mechanism in Nigeria, the management of a national carbon registry as well as a Climate Change Fund.

Speaking at the ceremony, Managing Director & CEO of NSIA, Mr. Aminu Umar-Sadiq said, “A core pillar of our Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) strategy is to actively build strategic partnerships with relevant organizations to support climate change actions and Nigeria’s energy transition ambitions of achieving net zero emissions by 2060″.

He further said, “The agreement with our partner, NCCC is one of the strategic steps we are taking to meet our social impact goals and sustainability commitments.”

Umar-Sadiq added that “NSIA’s maiden Impact Report highlights the Authority’s development agenda and impact over several years of operations as well as the Authority’s efforts to safeguard the environment and address relevant climate-related risks and opportunities in line best practice.”

In his remarks, Dr. Salisu Dahiru, the Director General of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), said that “this partnership is a bold signal to the global audience that the Government of Nigeria is serious about its climate commitments. By committing resources from its sovereign wealth fund to support climate action and an inclusive green economic growth, Nigeria is investing in its future, especially in a vastly decarbonizing world.

“This partnership between two of Nigeria’s flagship institutions is expected to catalyze private finance to accelerate Nigeria’s ambitious climate and national development agenda”.

The DG commended the transformational leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari by demonstrating executive ownership of Nigeria’s climate policies through the Climate Change Act of 2021, the establishment of the National Council on Climate Change and the commitment toward a net zero economy by 2060.

He called on Nigerians to embrace the opportunities offered by climate change to build a resilient economy and improve the adaptive capacities of the communities to extreme weather events, now and in the future.