It will be the first issued by an African country, in fact, it will be the first issued by an emerging market economy. Green bonds are financial instruments that are created to fund projects that have positive environmental benefits. CNBC Africa’s Onyi Sunday spoke to Nigeria’s Minister of Environment Amina Mohammed about the new bond, the ongoing clean up of the Niger Delta and about her new role as the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations.
There are some great quotes.
On her new role as the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations:
“I think this is an incredible honour and privilege. I am humbled to serve at that level. But it’s an opening to show that women from Africa can do this and I think that over and over again, we need to inspire the possibilities. We have a great secretary general who is there for all the right reasons so I hope that I can contribute to the vision in making the U.N the go to place for resolving many of the conflict issues that we have in the world today.”
On the Green Bond:
“It’s another way of finding an instrument that can help us bring together coherent action behind the NDC that we had for the Paris agreement on Climate Change but it’s doing it in such a way that it integrates with our macro-economic recovery program and brings in sectors that would otherwise not have had a chance to contribute to the economy.”
On the benefits that the Green Bond could bring:
“We’re really looking at what we’re going to be doing with power. The whole energy mix for us is important. Moving away from fossil fuels to renewables and doing that in a targeted way that looks at some of our poverty issues and generates jobs and creates more industry where we otherwise would not have had it.”
On the clean up of the Niger Delta:
“It’s not so difficult to clean up, it will take us 4-5 years, but the real challenge is how do we restore that environment to what it was? That will take a generation or two.”
On the Port-Harcourt pollution situation:
“Regulatory agencies have done an excellent job in the case of the soot, they are partnering in Port Harcourt to find what the root cause is. Of course the major cause was the asphalt making company but the illegal refineries are also a part of that and I think that this is something that we’ve also got to take on board.”
Excerpts from Cbcnafrica Interview
Aunty you say 😯
ReplyDeleteA Generation or ????? 2.
Make una dey steal the money ooo.
Judgement day is coming.
Its not a lie now. Any environmentalist knows that @ Dope PH babe. The environment wasn't depleted in one day, as such it will take a long time to restore it to its previous state.
DeleteI beieve if they take it seriouse with mobilized Labour, logistics and finance it is achievable within some period of time. Not work in 2 weeks and resume in 10 months time @laefizy
DeleteClean up is easy. The ecological damage will take a generation or two to restore. She is talking about the changes to the climate of that area, the kind of soil. That can't be done in the time you're taking about.
DeleteWhy wont it take a generation or two? see her mouth. all of them be part of the problem. Madam go and restore the North first. Mtscheww. looters
ReplyDeleteWe don't need a sooth Sayer to tell us the work in the Niger Delta is no small one but government needs to be sincere and entirely committed.
ReplyDeleteSee person with all her certificates talking
ReplyDeleteHian!
ReplyDelete