President Mohammadu Buhari

Malam Garba Shehu, the President Buhari’s spokesman, has confirmed that  Nigeria has been chosen by Heads of State and Government of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC) to host the Secretariat  of the Sahel Climate Fund.

Shehu also disclosed that a communiqué was issued at the end of the second conference of Heads of State and Government of SRCC, held on the margins of 36^th AU Summit adding that the SRCC also approved the appointment of Issifi Boureim of Niger Republic as the Executive Secretary of the Commission.

Boureim, until his appointment, was the Coordinator of the Transitory Operational Framework of the Commission. His appointment is for a non-renewable period of three years, without the possibility of candidacy for future terms of office.

It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari had declared Nigeria’s interest to host the headquarters of the Sahel Climate Fund and readiness to provide all necessary amenities.

The Sahel Climate Fund is the financial body of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC).

The body is one of the three climate Commissions for Africa created in Marrakech, Morocco in 2016 at the Summit of African Heads of State and Government.

The Morocco meeting was organised at the initiative of King of Morocco on the sidelines of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Among other decisions by leaders of member countries during the mini-summit in Addis Ababa include the adoption of the methods of contributions from the States for the financing of the operations of the Executive Secretariat.

The decision taken also include the Sahel Climate Fund as well as for the participation in the 1^st recapitalization of the said Fund.

A panel of Heads of State comprising Buhari, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, President Alassane Quattara of Cote d’Ivoire and General Idriss Deby of Chad was established to support the work of the President of the Commission.

The communique also named eminent personalities as Ambassadors for advocacy and the mobilisation of resources for the financing of climate related programmes and actions in the region.

The Ambassadors are Issoufou Mahamadou, former President of the Republic of Niger and first president of the Commission, Amina Mohammed and the UN Deputy Secretary-General.

Others include,Tidjane Thiam, Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki,  MO Ibrahim, Aliko Dangote, Ibrahima Thiaw, Paul Kammogne Fokam and Mossadeck Bally.

NAN reports that the Sahel geo-climatic region comprises 17 countries stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, including Nigeria, Benin, Burkina Faso and Cameroon.

Others are Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Guinea Conakry, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sudan and Chad.

NAN.