Nigeria’s Leadership Roles Right from the onset, Nigeria is recognized as an African leader in its contribution to solving the problem of Ozone Layer. Nigeria has shown its commitment to actions in protecting the Ozone layer even in face of many uncertainties. The Country at the ninth and tenth meetings of the Governing Council of UNEP in 1982, co-sponsored, along with Sweden, a Resolution on the Protection of the Ozone Layer. It also co-sponsored the article that led to the setting up of the financial mechanism designed to enable compliance with the treaty’s obligations, which eventually led to the establishment of the Multilateral Fund (MLF) for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol (MP). The Country’s continued commitment was shown by its ratification of all the initial four amendments of the Protocol. Other leadership roles played by the Country include but not limited to the following:
· Nigeria
Hosted the African English-Speaking Ozone Depleting Substances Officers network
(ODSONET) meeting at Abuja in 1999.
· Nigeria
became a member of the Executive Committee (ExCom) of the Multilateral Fund of
the Montreal Protocol (MP) in 1999, represented by Dr. R. Adewoye, and
sometimes by Dr. David B. Omotosho. This culminated in its becoming the
Committee’s Chairman in 2002/2003.
· Nigeria,
represented by Prof. O.A. Afolabi, was the chairman of the ExCom in 2002/2003,
during which time the committee recorded an outstanding performance. It reached
a record target of committing the entire budget for the 2000 – 2002 triennium.
Nigeria’s leadership also facilitated the achievement of the first control
measures relating to Methyl Bromide and Halon which became applicable to A5
Parties in 2002. It also midwifed the implementation of Decision 35/57 which
provided a sound basis for “compliance enablement, funding requirement, removal
of baseline ambiguity and compliance monitoring”.
· In 2002, the
Multilateral Fund (MLF) was entering a new era with a more strategic approach
and focus on compliance which necessitated changes in the work of the Executive
Committee (ExCom) of the Multilateral Fund of the Montreal Protocol (MP). With
the leadership of Nigeria, the committee was able to chart a focused course in
strategic planning and policy direction that made for the achievement of MLF’s
compliance-focused objective.
· Nigeria was
elected a member of the Bureau of the Fifteen Meeting of the Parties to the MP
in Nairobi, November, 2003. For the first Meeting of the Bureau held in in
Montreal, March 2004, she was represented by Hon. Bala M. Mande, the then
Minister of Environment, supported by Prof. O.A. Afolabi and Dr. D.B.Omotosho.
For the second meeting held in Prague, Czech Republic, Nov. 2004, Nigeria was
represented by Prof O.A. Afolabi supported by Abdul-Kazeem Bayero.
· Nigeria,
represented by Prof O.A.Afolabi, was co-chair of the “open-ended informal
consultation on Methyl Bromide” along with Finland, represented by Mr. Jukka
Uosukainen, at the First Extra ordinary meeting of the Parties held in
Montreal, Canada, March, 2004.
· Nigeria,
represented by Prof O.A.Afolabi, co-chaired, along with Belgium (represented by
Jozef Buys) and Finland (represented by Jukka Uosukainen) the contact group on
“the 2006 – 2008 Replenishment of the Multilateral Fund” at the meeting held in
Montreal, Canada in July,2005 and Dakar, Senegal, December,2005.
· Nigeria,
represented by Mr. A.K. Bayero was member of the Implementation Committee
between 2006 and 2008.
· Nigeria,
represented by Dr. David B. Omotosho, was co-chair with Belgium, represented by
Mr. Jozef Buys on the “TOR for the study of the Multilateral Fund
Replenishment” at the 19th MOP held in Montreal, Canada, September, 2007.
· Nigeria
hosted the 13th Joint Meeting of Ozone Depleting Substances Officers Network
for Africa (ODSONET/AF), at Abuja, Aug. 2009.
· Nigeria,
represented by Dr. David B. Omotosho, was co-chair with Netherlands,
represented by Ms. Gudi Alkemade on “the Proposals on the Terms of Reference
for an evaluation of the Financial Mechanism of the Montreal Protocol” at the
21st MOP held in Port Ghalib, Egypt, November, 2009.
· Nigeria,
represented by Dr. David B. Omotosho, was co-chair, with Austria, represented
by Mr. Paul Krajnik, of the contact group on “issues related to the financial
mechanism under article 10 of the MP as well as the consideration of the draft
decisions on the TOR for an evaluation of the financial mechanism” and for “a
study on the 2012 - 2014 replenishment of the MLF” at the 22nd MOP, held in
Bangkok, Thailand, November, 2010.
· Nigeria,
through the current Hon. Minister of State for the Environment, Ibrahim Usman
Jibril, moved the motion for naming the recently agreed HFC phase down
agreement, the “Kigali Amendment”.
· Nigeria,
represented by the D (PCEH) Mr. Charles Ikeah, National Ozone Officer Engr.
Idris Abdullahi and National Expert Mr. A.K Bayero represented the African
Group alongside Cameroun and South Africa at the Contact group on MLF
Replenishment held in Bangkok, Thailand, July 2017.
· Also,
Nigeria participated in the 29th MOP held at the Conference Centre,
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Montreal, Quebec, Canada from
20 – 24 November, 2017. Interestingly, the
· Nigerian
delegates participated at the Ozone Award Ceremony, where the Honorable
Minister of Environment, Mr. Ibrahim Jibril was given a Prestigious Political Leadership
Award as a result of
· Nigeria’s
leadership role throughout the whole process of Implementation of the Montreal
Protocol and lately during the negotiations and final adoption of the Kigali
amendment in 2016.
· Nigeria
participated at workshop on aggregated demand for super-efficient refrigeration
& air-conditioning in West Africa, Morocco, March 2018.
· Nigeria
participated at an African Cooling Conference on Energy Efficiency in Kigali,
March 2018
· Nigeria in
May 2018, attended Joint Network Meeting of African Ozone Officers and Twinning
Workshop on Energy Efficient & Climate-friendly Refrigeration &
Air-conditioning, Gaborone, Botswana.