Against all odds, All Progressives Congress Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee has conducted smooth convention which has produced new National Working Committee of the party. Therefore, the ruling governing party Caretaker Committee led by Governor Mala Buni has recorded great achievements and rescued the party from an imminent collapse to chart a new course.

Despite the rancour free exercise, the convention leaves unforgettable painful scar in the mind of one block of legacy party, CPC members for being accorded with undeserved reward for loyalty and humiliation by the President.

Since the party established two block of the legacy party, Action Congress of Nigeria and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), produced National Working Committee of the party. Chief Bisi Akande National Chairman of the defunct ACN served as pioneer interim national chairman of the APC, In 2014 former Governor of Edo state, John Oyegun, emerged the chairman of All Progressives Congress from ANPP block and also Adams Oshiomhole emerged as the national Chairman from ACN.

Logically, ACN produced two chairman while ANPP one and CPC none. In fact those members of the defunct CPC were the worst treated since the APC formed. Senator Tanko Al-Makura who was only 8 years governor under the defunct CPC indicated interests to contest chairman of the party and some members of the party with sense of history, had also been working for the realisation of his aspiration, thinking he had not only had competence and capacity, but a moral right to aspire to the office.

Before the convention was held, there was two different lists of preferable candidates suffice approved and duly signed by the President. One list with Adamu Abdullahi name and other Tanko Almukura but Abdullahi emerged as a consensus APC National Chairman, while ditched him in spite, he was the only equity, that Buhari took with him to the negotiating table, and ultimately entitled the CPC partners to a stake in the APC merger.

Days to the National Convention, without any explanation or apology, Buhari woke up and chose a man from the same State and predecessor to Al-Makura; a man, who migrated from the opposition PDP in 2014 at the deterrent of lone CPC governor as his choice for party chairman.

One other block whose disappointment comes with an eternally painful scar, was the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) under whose banner President Buhari contested 2011 presidential election. Political and public analyst viewed that had there not been an Al-Makura, President Buhari would not have been able to boast of any entitlement at all, Yet, he didn’t deem it fit to consider him for the office of the chairman of the governing party, he knew that the man desired to be in that office.

From many of the loyalists of the president to other stakeholders of the party, no one has been able to understand, factors that informed the decision of President in ditching Al-Makura. What a special reward for loyalty! An unusual reward for staying the cause and standing strong for the Buhari brand and ideals, Al-Makura and mine alike would never forget that treatment muted to them by Baba Buhari.

Let We Not Forget, there is confusion in the polity as two lawmakers; are now occupying two elective positions following their emergence as national chairman and deputy national chairman (North) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), respectively. Since their emergence as members of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party tongues are wagging over their seats at the National Assembly. With regard to Section 183 of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999, they have a moral duty to quit with law barring an public servants to retaining another paid employment. They need to choose the path of honour to resign from red chamber having being elected to the executive of the party.

Dukawa writes in from Kano abbahydukawa@gmail.com

By Barr. Sharon Ikeazor

Our continent is the most vulnerable to climate change, warming faster than the global average temperature, and the least able to afford the cost of implementing policies and practices that collectively make up what is called “adaptation” to climate change. Without immediately embracing a revolutionary approach, we will cause our own demise. We must agree it is African biodiversity, habitats, and livelihoods that are most threatened by climate change.

While climate change is accentuating the biodiversity crisis, we also threaten African habitats with loss and degradation when they are not managed in accordance with best scientific knowledge. Water supplies are jeopardized and food insecurity grows when biodiversity is lost. Livelihoods are imperiled when fishing areas, forests, and grasslands are polluted or overexploited, especially by large companies that dispossess indigenous inhabitants. These destructive activities weaken the ability of nature to continue to provide us with food and economic livelihoods. And just as a healthy patient is better able to survive major surgery, a healthy ecosystem is better able to withstand climate change. We thus must do all we can to protect and promote the health and resilience of natural systems so that they can provide us with the food and economic benefits on which the entire continent depends.

Many nations in Africa are ready to decarbonize their economies, to preserve their delicate ecosystems, and to restore their damaged habitats. Science clearly shows that protected areas must be prioritized if the natural world is to stand a chance. Without expanding protected and conserved areas to at least 30% of the world’s surface by 2030, achieving national priorities such as climate mitigation, sustainable land and water management, food and energy security, and human security will be jeopardized which is why we must act now. Some highly ambitious nations like Nigeria have already joined international coalitions to accomplish these goals. Nigeria is a member of the High Ambition Coalition for Nature and People (HAC), a worldwide initiative advocating for the designation of at least 30% of the Earth’s land and seas as protected areas by 2030. Nigeria is also a member of the Blue Leaders, an ambitious group of countries committed to protecting at least 30% of the global ocean through a global network of highly and fully protected marine areas by 2030, along with a robust new global treaty to protect the ocean.

Ahead of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, Nigeria calls on every member of the African Union to join the HAC and the Blue Leaders. Without rallying behind the protection of at least 30% of the planet by 2030, we cannot solve the biodiversity crisis. While these initiatives are essential, they are not cheap and our wallets must match our ambition for nature.

Experts note that to address biodiversity loss we need to increase our investment in nature protection by between US$ 500 and 900 billion per year, the bulk of which should be directed from more developed countries to biodiversity-rich middle and lower-income countries. Investments in nature deliver the most positive results when priorities are defined from the ground up with countries themselves guiding donors and development partners on priorities for investments. Countries in Africa are eager to develop funding partnerships to maximize the impact of expanding protected areas for conservation. We have a clear understanding of priority needs for sustainable investments across the subregion. Nigeria will, therefore, be hosting an African nature finance forum in 2022 to open debate on the development of funding partnerships and on the opportunities for philanthropies and development partners to invest in nature recovery in Africa.

In Africa, we have the technical know-how and the indigenous knowledge to reproduce natural resources. We have the ambition and the expertise to lead a globally coordinated effort. And we have the biodiversity to re-establish thriving habitats. What we do not yet have is a consensus among African nations that we must do this for ourselves and that the wealthy nations must help finance our efforts because they will benefit, too.

Barr. Sharon Ikeazor, Minister of State for the Environment, Nigeria.