President Bola Tinubu has pledged to support the Nigeria Police Green Initiative to boost the operational efficiency and capacity of the force to fight crimes and maintain law and order.
Tinubu, represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, made the pledge on Thursday in Abuja, at the inauguration of the Nigeria Police Green Initiative.
The green initiative has “Leveraging Climate Mitigation and Adaptation for Increasing Operational Efficiency of the Nigeria Police Force and Social-Economic Development of Nigeria” as its theme.
The president said that no part of the world could claim to live in denial of the realities of climate change, with its consequences, everywhere, from unstable weather conditions to water bodies and yields of farms.
“No person or place is spared from this threats to our ecosystem and this inform the need for every individuals and organisations to join in the implementation of solutions to the problems.
“I am therefore, delighted by the measure taken by the Nigerian Police Force. Nigeria has been at the forefront of the global search for solutions to the devastations of climate change.
“We have always known that we cannot reach this target of aligning with international climate goals and reducing greenhouse gas emissions unless each person and every stakeholder lives up to their obligation,”he said.
According to him, this is a promise we made to the world at the COP 28 conference in Dubai last year, alongside other nations.
The president said that the federal government reiterated the urgent need for global cooperation to implement solutions that could stop and reverse the effects of climate change at the conference.
“The Climate Change Act 2021, which sets out to achieve low greenhouse emissions, green and sustainable growth and sets a target for reaching net zero, is a cornerstone of our efforts.
“The Energy Transition Plan (ETP) promises to achieve net zero emissions by 2060.
“Our national climate change policy, climate change action swaps and renewable energy targets are some of the interventions in place to fast track our solutions towards a low carbon economy,”he added.
Tinubu said that Nigeria Police Green Initiative was a welcomed development in view of the connection between climate change and security of the country.
According to him, we are going to throw our weight behind its success and we have emplaced a committee for the carbon market activation plan.
The president said the idea was to position Nigeria at the forefront of creating a robust sustainable carbon market worth 2.5 billion dollars.
He said the presidency had also established a presidential committee on Climate Action and Green Economic Solutions to coordinate and oversee all policies and programmes on climate action and green economic development.
In his remark, the Inspector General of Police (I-G), Mr Olukayode Egbetokun, said the intuitive signified a major milestone in evolution of the Nigeria Police Force.
He said the initiative underscored the unwavering commitment of the force to environmental responsibility and innovative policing.
According to him, climate change is the most existential threat to humanity, affecting our ways of life, means of livelihood, social-cultural existence, inter communal interactions and the natural world.
He said the security implications of climate change were evident in infrastructure distortions, poverty, increased vulnerability to crime and resource conflicts like farmers herders violence.