The Director-General of the National Council on Climate Change, Dr Salisu Dahiru, said on Monday that issues revolving around climate change are very dear to the hearts of the Bola Tinubu-led administration.
Dahiru stated this in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, during the South West sensitisation programme on the use of Atmosfair Save80 clean cookstoves, a climate-friendly device.
He said the present administration has recognised that resolving the issues of climate change provides it with ample opportunity to achieve many of its objectives, such as revamping the economy, providing security, and ending the country’s super dependence on fossil fuels.
He said, “This government wants to revamp the economy, provide security, and is interested in ending its super dependence on fossil fuels. We want to use our natural resources to address challenges that the country is facing, and addressing them could be possible by prioritising the climate change discussion. To revamp the economy, we want to say that we want to stop using our natural resources in a bad way.’’
Dahiru said that deforestation is one huge problem through which the country contributes to climate change, saying that the use of this Atmosfair Save80 clean cookstove has the power to reduce by 80 per cent the use of firewood.
He said that though these clean stoves were originally designed in Germany, they will be produced here in the country as the promoters are already willing to establish one of those factories in Ogun State.
Speaking on behalf of the state government, the Director of Special Duties and Climate Change, Ministry of Environment, Mr Egbemuyiwa Olatunji, said the government would always embrace efforts at combating climate change, saying that the present administration had equally distributed 1,000 clean cookstoves to the residents of the state.
Faruk Yabo, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Atmosfair Climate and Sustainability Limited, producer of the clean cookstoves, also said that the friendly climate device, if embraced, would serve as a big boost in combating climate change.