Climate Change: Nigeria Risks Tsunami, Disaster

Nigeria is at risk of calamity of unimaginable scale if the delicate balance of nature is disturbed because she lacks the strength of character to lessen the effect of climate change, a keg of gun powder waiting to explode, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now reveal.
With badly managed and corruption-ridden public enterprises, Nigeria appears more vulnerable to effects of climate change otherwise called global warming.
Either by ignorance or deliberate action, Nigerian government and large corporations think climate change is too uncertain to act on and just part of a natural cycle.
To them, Nigeria has survived even worst conditions and droughts (two drought incidences in Nigeria in the 1970s and 1980s led to the death of millions of cows, goats and sheep, while food production was adversely affected).
Yes, though humans as a whole have survived the vagaries of drought, stretches of warmth and cold and more, entire societies have collapsed from dramatic climatic shifts.
Global warming has become a new reality, with deleterious effects: seasonal cycles are disrupted, as are ecosystems; and agriculture, water needs and supply, and food production are all adversely affected.
Climate change also leads to sea-level rise with its attendant consequences, and include fiercer weather, increased frequency and intensity of storms, floods, hurricanes, droughts, increased frequency of fires, poverty, malnutrition and series of health and socio-economic consequences. It has a cumulative effect on natural resources and the balance of nature.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that recent research reveals that climate change threat is greater in Nigeria than in many parts of the world.  On the average, Nigeria like the rest of African continent is 0.5°C warmer than it was 100 years ago.
This means that some stable ecosystems such as the Sahel Savanna may become vulnerable because warming will reinforce existing patterns of water scarcity and increase the risk of drought in Nigeria and indeed most countries in West Africa.
As well, the country’s aquatic ecosystems, wetlands and other habitats will create overwhelming problems for an already impoverished populace.
Mr. John Odey, minister of Environment, said Nigeria is looking at ways to prepare the nation against the looming negative impacts of climate change as well as adequately strategize to harness the opportunities therein.
Odey however agreed that climate change is no longer a debatable issue and that institutions and processes have therefore been put in place to enable the world’s government to take action, to coordinate those steps, and to measure the results under the aegis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that global warming is occurring because people are causing it by burning fossil fuels (like coal, oil and natural gas), using generators and cutting down forests.
Preliminary studies on the vulnerability of various sectors of the Nigerian economy to Climate Change were conducted by Nest and showed that virtually all of the sectors analyzed were unaffected, nor will remain unaffected in future by changes to climatic conditions.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that pre-existing problems will only get worse with climate change.  For instance, Nigeria’s low-lying coastline makes the country prone to sea-level water intrusion into coastal fresh water resources as climate change brings with it a rise in sea level that will seriously affect the coastline.
Climate change is also responsible for the chronic food shortages in many parts of the country as 95 percent of the people depend on agriculture for their livelihood, most of it without irrigation.
Elsewhere, the reappearance of infectious diseases such as cholera and rift valley fever, which were thought to have been eradicated, are as a result of climate change.
Realizing the potential threats posed by global warming, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, Lagos State Governor and Emeka Anyaoku, former secretary general of the Commonwealth have emphasized the need to take decisive actions to mitigate the impact of climate change in Nigeria with calls to people to change attitudes that are inimical to the earth’s surface.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that mitigating the adverse effect of global warming requires strong political will and joint commitment of Nigerians to stave off possible catastrophe.
Emphasis must shift to educating Nigerians on better energy-saving lights, greener power and re-thinking home energy.