By Ebriku John Friday
The federal government of Nigeria has told global energy stakeholders that as the world move to transform the energy sector from fossil-based to zero-carbon, the transition must be equitable, inclusive and just.
Minister of State, Power, Goddy Jedy Agba, OFR stated this while presenting the opening remark at the virtual Ministerial Thematic Forum on Energy Transition for the High-Level Dialoque on Energy (HLDE).
Agba who was Nigeria’s representative at the forum maintained that all global stakeholders must be committed to true partnership where every voice is heard and valued and must incorporate two pillars of SDGG7 which are energy access and energy efficiency.
He insisted that no one country or stakeholder should dictate for other parties even as he urged world leaders to continue to work together towards the end-goal.
According to him, “Dear partners, colleagues and friends, it is my pleasure to welcome you all to this global multistakeholder dialogue on the energy transition as part of the Ministerial Thematic Forum being co-hosted by Nigeria in the build up to the High-Level Dialoque on Energy in September 2021.
“It is important that we all recognize that the global energy transition must be equitable, inclusive and just. In simple terms, this means that the global energy transition must also take a country-specific lens, accounting for diverse realities and accommodating various pathways to net-zero by 2050”.
The Minister avered that, “most of the global north faces a unique issues where significant base loads must be migrated to cleaner sources. Most of the global south also faces a unique issue where universal access to energy must be achieved with clean sources. Even within these two barriers, we can observe that country-specific nuances must be addressed with country-specific approaches”.
While noting that every partner has a key role to play, he reiterated that “government, private sector development partners, youths, and civil societies and everyone must be carried along as we aim to achieve SDG7 by 2030 in a way that set us up to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement by 2050”.
The Ministerial Thematic Forum is a week-long event in the buildup to the United Nations HLDE holding in September this year in New York, United States of America with focus on reducing energy-related CO2 emissions to limit climate change.
