BY AKUDORO GLORIA
Nigeria and India have joined force to address common challenges related to desertification, drought and land degradation at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification at the Conference of Parties 16 (UNCCD COP16) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Nigerian Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal in a bilateral discussions with his counter part from India, Bhupender Yadav on the sideline event at COP16, discussed issues related to strengthening cooperation as members of International Alliance and issues related to Energy Access and Transition.
The conference which started on Monday 2nd December, 2024 with 196 countries and the European Union representative includes the Minister of Environment, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Balarabe Abbas Lawal representing Nigeria at the event.
The UNCCD COP16 salient mission is to create awareness on global ambition and accelerate action on land and drought resilient through people centred approach.
In a statement by the Director, Press and Public Relations Unit, Ibrahim Haruna, the Minister stressed the need for India and Nigeria to work as a team to address common challenges related to desertification and land degradation, ultimately contribute to a more robust and sustainable future.
Also speaking, Bhupender Yadav commended Nigerian Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal for his remarkable achievements in the area of combating desertification and land degradation in Nigeria and assured him of India’s support in tackling environmental challenges in the two countries.
Yadav emphasized that the two countries will work together to address environmental challenges confronting them.
In another development, the Minister of Environment who recently unveiled and commissioned the Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON) Electronic Data Centre, assured the World Bank and other partners of the effective maintenance of the centre.
The Minister noted that the centre will enhance service delivery of EHCON, eliminate fake certificates thereby resulting to presentable results from the centre.
He said that the unveiling of the electronic data centre was a significant step and part of government’s commitment to environmental, health sustainability and national development.
The Registrar of EHCON, Dr. Yakub Baba-Mohammed, in his remarks thanked the World Bank and other partners for the realization of the centre and reiterated that the facility would be utilized for the purposed it was established.
Dr. Baba-Muhammad expressed optimism that the centre would allow the council to migrate from analogue to digital data processing which is in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the present Administration and the Performance Management System (PMS).
He added that the centre will enable online registration of members, online exam/ certification, information management, harmonisation of data management, seamless feed back and printing of official documents.