Climate Change: Reviving Lake Chad Basin to cost $50bn – FG

The federal government has revealed that the revival of the Lake Chad Basin, which dried up because of climate change, will gulp over $50 billion.
This was made known by the minister of Environment, Dr. Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar, during a chat with journalists at the ongoing Conference of the Parties (COP 25) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with the theme “Time for action” taking place at Madrid, Spain.
Nigeria, along with other countries at the Lake Chad region is currently facing one of the greatest humanitarian crises in the world with the drying of the lake leading to food shortage, displacement, insecurity and myriad of resultant negative effects.
According to Abubakar, the disappearance of water in the Lake Chad is a very serious problem, not just ecologically but security wise.
“We realise that a lot of breakdown of security in that area including, but not limited to, Boko Haram is as a result of people that have been displaced whether they are fishermen, agriculturists or canoe operators. These people have lost their livelihood, in the process they became an easy target for recruitment by not just Boko Haram but other criminal organisations. So, it is very critical that the basin is restored so that we can reduce this possibility of crime in the area. Most importantly, having the Lake Chad also helps with climate restoration because you will have more rainfall and therefore more trees in that particular area when they are planted,” he said.

The minister, however, said Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is currently spearheading the Lake Chad Inter-basin Water Transfer Project, a project which is a cooperation among the countries surrounding the Lake Chad.
“The restoration is estimated to cost over $50 billion. It is not a project that can be hurried because it took time to happen and it will take time for it to be restored. It is something that African countries cannot do alone. The international community is aware and we have some indication that countries are willing to come in and help in that respect. So, it is a very big project for Nigeria and those countries and the rest of the world because the stability of that area and the climate restoration is something that will impact the entire world,” he added.

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