Lately, the Delta state governor, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan has preached the gospel of economy beyond oil. He claims to be diversifying the economy of the oil rich state in a theme titled: “Delta Beyond Oil” The governor’s communication manager, Mr. Paul Odili, is the arrow head of what is generally called the Delta Green Economy Initiative, and he spoke to AMAECHI OKWARA, on ideas behind the programmes.
What stepshas the Delta state government taken to realize the Green Economy initiative?
You know the governorstarted off his administration with a very simple initiative that is the ‘Deltabeyond oil’ which is basically an initiative to diversify the economy of thestate from just being oil based mono-cultural economy. As a strategy,diversificationis very good and this is where sustainability becomes very important. What wehave to do is to see how we can promote sustainability in sectors likeagriculture, transportation, infrastructure, housing etc.
For an administrationthat is forward looking it makes sense that we key into this new global visionof green economy. If you remember the concept of Delta Green Economy startedoff because of the governor’s concern for climate change and how to combat it.
We realized that there are two ways to tackle climate change, by taking policyaction and by adopting the green technology. We have done a couple ofstudies on different sectors whether it is a report called: TerritorialApproach to Climate Change (TACC) with UNDP or the Delta State Renewable Energy
Mix Report in conjunction with IEA; whether you talk about Governor Uduaghan’sparticipation in the international NGO on sustainable development like R-20 asvice chairman, it became important that we take policy action andinstitutionalise it. It is good that we have the aspiration to take theinitiative forward but we are also constrained by the fact that thisadministration has a life span. The Governor based on his knowledge and advicefigured that he could not leave office and leave things just hanging withoutputting them in a very structured form.
If it is not institutionalised, thein-coming administration may not have the same level of enthusiasm, although wedo hope that it does, because the benefits are enormous, however perchance itdoes not I fear all these initiatives may just die. What the Governor hasdecided to do is to have an institution set in place. He has approved that anexpert team design a process to set up a formal agency that will embody theseinitiatives that will take it beyond his tenure. We are at the stage where wejust finished a workshop to articulate how that structure will be in place.
Weare still working on that and hopefully before long we will have a draft legaldocument that we will submit to the Governor. And hopefully, he will reviewthat very quickly and send it to the House and if the House passes it, we willnow have an official and legal structure that will then take forward these initiatives.
This agency or structure, what is it going to be like?
I cannot tell youdefinitively what it will be like, because we are still working on it, the expert team comprising of academics and resource persons from Nigeria andabroad are working on it diligently. But what I can share with you is just thatwe expect that it will be an agency that will leverage public and privateresources to do its work and to bring benefits to government and people ofDelta state. You see, when you talk about green economy, some people quicklythink ministry of environment, no it is a misconception.
Green economy like Isaid before cuts across every strata of the economy. The way we envisage it andthe way it will be articulated, it will be cross-sectoral, it will capture theelements of all the sectors and it will try to shape government policy in thatregard. It will also leverage opportunities that are available locally and itwill tap into and attract a lot of support from international partnership and resources.
Subject to final approval, we know this agency can beself-funding withina short time frame if the model we are proposing is accepted. We know that thisagency can be income generating for the state. The truth is that there are alot of opportunities both locally and internationally on having structures like this that promotes sustainable development.
The idea is that with aninstitution like this locally and abroad people can engage with it no matter the sector, whether it is transportation, housing, agriculture, energy, it will be an inter-face and we will also be involved in building mass awareness amongDeltans. There are a whole lot of things to be done but it does not replace theMinistry of Environment.
The agency will inter-face with existing governmentagencies on specific areas and hopefully we will build on that to promote aGreen Delta.
How would you relate the desire for green economy and the quest for infrastructural Development inNigeria?
There is no conflict. Greeneconomy is also about infrastructural development but in a sustainable manner.It will inter-face across board, it does not affect infrastructuraldevelopment, it will help in economic growth. It will create new jobs and itwill also create new opportunities beyond the business as usual approach thatwe are used to.
For instance, the ministry of environment is fully involved in waste management but people do not realise that waste can be converted intoother economic opportunities. This agency will come to work with the ministryof environment to attract investment opportunities into how waste can beconverted into other economic opportunities for instance. It will also do samewith other relevant government structures.
Will the agencybe involved in the planting of grasses and all that?
No, the agency will not beinvolved in that. These are core functions of the ministry of environment. Whatthe agency will be doing is to expand existing opportunities and turn them intoprofitable economic opportunities.
What are thoseinfrastructures or on-going projects that are environmentally friendly?
You know we have invested alot of money in solar street light; we have done a lot with respect to treeplanting. Another aspect of what we are about to do is the BRT project; it is agreen economic initiative. The whole point about BRT project for instance isthat you reduce carbon emission per person who instead of using their personalvehicles, go by mass transport system, in other words you are reducing thecarbon foot print per person. But by and large, the reason we are setting upthis agency is the necessity to also go into areas in a more structured form.
What we have done over time is to do a lot of studies to get a properunderstanding of our situation and what we need to do in a concrete sense to beable to achieve the objective. So we are at that point of having a structurethat furthers thisconcept.
