POLITICS
Lagos Raises Bond to Address Climate Change
Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu says the state is raising money for the Lagos State Green Bond Market Development Programme.
Sanwo-Olu said the bond was geared at building a greater, circular, climate-resilient and prosperous state.
The governor made the remark on Tuesday, when he signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with FMDQ Group and Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa), as implementing partners, at Lagos House, Marina.
According to the governor, “Green Bond Framework Development Programme, is a crucial first step toward creating a viable financing option for future green and sustainability projects.
Sanwo-Olu noted that Green Bonds could assist in unlocking sustainable investment opportunities in Lagos state, opening the door to advance adoption of innovative new technologies, financing of projects that provided green jobs, and promote economic and climate resiliency.
He lamented that climate change affected everyone, but it was expected to hit developing countries the hardest, especially low-lying states such as Lagos.
He, however, noted that despite its devastating effects, climate change was being increasingly viewed as a gateway to new business opportunities, opening many profitable ways for investors to help protect the planet.
He added that one of such ways was through Green Bonds.
“Lagos state is particularly mindful of the effects of climate change and as such, has shown and continues to show its commitment to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030.
“To achieve these lofty goals however, funding is required, far in excess of what the state can currently generate and very urgently.
“The financial sector will therefore, need to play a vital role in accelerating the local market’s ability to provide the required support, by expanding to green lending as an alternative source of funding for financing eligible green projects and assets in Lagos state.
“I commend and thank our partners, the Financial Center for Sustainability, FMDQ Group and FSD Africa, funded by the UK Government, who are supporting this development programme.
“This Green Bond Framework Development Programme is a crucial first step toward creating a viable financing option for future green and sustainability projects.
“There is no doubt that Green Bonds can assist in unlocking sustainable investment opportunities in Lagos state, opening the door to advance adoption of innovative new technologies, financing of projects that provide green jobs, and promote economic and climate resiliency.
“With an expected population growth to 40 million inhabitants by the year 2050, the government is saddled with not only delivering on economic growth, but mitigating against adverse effects of climate change and waste generation.
“These are all opportunities that Green Bonds can be used to address.”
Sanwo-Olu expressed optimism that the initiative would go a long way toward ensuring actualisation, adding that his administration would continue to blaze the trail of leadership, financial accountability, innovation and sustainability.
He said: “I strongly believe that the green bond programme will open the doors of deep sustainable funds for infrastructure and social development for Lagos, being the biggest player in the sub-national capital market, and therefore open new doors overall for lots of others. ”
Earlier, in his remarks, Commissioner for Finance, Mr Rabiu Olowo, noted that the green bond would address issues of climate change and environmental challenges.
According to him, Lagos has over 20 years experience in raising bonds. The state raised N100 billion bond in 2020, being the highest raised at that time.
Special Adviser to the governor on SDGs, Mrs Solape Hammond, said the MoU signing was the start of the framework for managing the bond.
“We will identify the green projects, the state should pursue and that will determine what amount we will be looking to do.
“It can be anything between N25 billion to N100 billion, but it really depends on the number of green projects we are able to find,” she said.
The Chief Executive Officer, FMDQ Group, Mr Bola Onadele-Koko, said the firm was proud to partner the state toward addressing climate and environmental challenges through the bond.
Onadele-Koko noted that the bond would stimulate economic growth, create jobs and align Sanwo-Olu’s THEMES agenda with achieving the SDGs as highlighted by the the United Nations.
“This will also transition Lagos state to a greener and more sustainable economy in line with the UN SDGs. (NAN)
The Abia Chapter of the INEC Staff Welfare Association (ISWA) has warned its members to uphold the integrity of the commission and guard against the culture of manipulating election results.
The Abia Chairman of the association, Mr Collins Eze, gave the advice at the group’s general meeting and end-of-year party in Umuahia.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen on the sideline of the ceremony, Eze said that the staff members were adequately aware of their enormous responsibility and should ensure free, fair and credible elections.
He said: “We have also told our colleagues that anywhere they find themselves they should make sure that they do the needful by ensuring transparency in the conduct of elections.
“We have always told them not to allow anybody to induce them with money to manipulate election results.
“I’m happy that they have been building the capacity of our colleagues on election processes.
“So, in the coming years, we won’t have any problem in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections.”
He said that the end-of-year party was special as it afforded them the opportunity “to wine and dine together as well as thank God for sustaining them in 2024”.
Eze said that his leadership had introduced various means of assisting members in dire financial needs by providing platforms to solicit suppory for them.
He expressed gratitude to members for their support and cooperation, describing them as the “secret behind the success of this administration”.
He said that 34 of at least 350 staff members of the commission in the state retired from service in 2024.
According to him, the development has placed a huge financial burden on the association, in terms of their welfare and entitlement as members.
Report says that each member received a carton of tomato paste as Christmas gift from the association. (NAN)
A chieftain of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Osita Okechukwu, has told the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to be thankful to God that its 16-year administration was not probed by the successive APC-led governments.Okechukwu stated this on Tuesday in Abuja, while reacting to a statement by PDP congratulating Ghanaians for the conduct of free, fair and transparent general elections.
Report says that PDP had, in a statement, said that the verdict of the people of Ghana in the presidential election was a signal to the APC that its days were numbered. The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, had said in the statement that the power of the people in Nigeria, just like in Ghana, would ‘surely prevail and end the APC’s oppressive rule’.This, he said, would “return Nigeria to the path of good governance, security, political stability and economic prosperity on the platform of the PDP in 2027.”However, in his reactions to Ologunagba’s statement, Okechukwu said that the PDP clan should thank God that former President Muhammadu Buhari and President Bola Tinubu, out of sheer statesmanship, had refused to probe ‘the 16 locus years of PDP administrations’.Okechukwu, a former Director-General of Voice of Nigeria (VON), described the 16 years of PDP administrations as ones full of squandering and lack of plan.He said that Nigeria had yet to recover from the humongous culture of impunity and trust deficit planted by PDP on the Nigerian soil.Okechukwu said corruption was among the culture of impunity, saying it governed the privatisation of Nigeria’s electricity value chain, a key element in the country’s industrialisation drive.“Another is the blatant rigging of the 2007 general elections which the foremost beneficiary, President Umaru Yar’Adua, out of good conscience and noble magnanimity, publicly acknowledged the malfeasance which characterised his victory,” he said.Okechukwu also mentioned what he called conscienceless sale of the legislative and ministerial quarters, the annual rentage of which, he said, was bleeding the country’s treasury.“Another one is the neglect of $23 billion Greenfield Refinery, which could have saved over $70 billion expended on importation of refined petroleum products and which simulated the economic hardship of today,” he said.On why, for nine years, the APC administration could not fix those challenges, he recalled the efforts made by the Buhari administration to reopen talks on the Greenfield Refinery which, according to him, the Chinese regrettably rebuffed.The former VON director-general said that Nigerians were not in a hurry to forget the deliberate breach of the rotational convention of president from the north to the south.He said that the country could not also forget the utter disregard for Section 7 of the PDP’s constitution which expressly mandated zoning.Okechukwu advised the PDP not to insult the sensibilities of Nigerians by assuming that citizens would easily forget how they were put in the harms way.He said that PDP should thank God that Buhari and Tinubu did not want to probe them, adding “that’s why Nigerians cannot decipher the difference between the two political parties.” (NAN)
Sen. Ned Nwoko (PDP-Delta) says that Local Government Administration is central to democracy in Nigeria as it ensures grassroots governance and service delivery at the local level.This is contained in a statement signed by Dr Michael Nwoko, the Chief of Staff to the lawmaker in Abuja on Monday.Nwoko said this on the occasion of the presentation of an award “Icon of Hope” to him by the Association of Local Government Vice Chairmen of Nigeria (ALGOVC).
He was represented by his Chief of Staff. He said that the importance of local government administration in the country could not be overemphasised, as it was the bedrock of democracy.According to him, local governments in Nigeria play key roles in the country’s democracy by promoting participatory democracy, providing services, and representing citizens.“Local Governments help determine local needs and how to meet them. They also act as a link between the centre, state, and local people.“They are created to decentralise power and bring the government closer to the people. They perform both mandatory and concurrent functions.“It is in view of this that I took it upon myself to enhance the viability of local governments through the Paris and London club loan refunds,”he said.Dr Folashade Olabanji-Oba, ALGOVC National Chairman, while presenting the award at its 7th Annual National Conference, said the award was in recognition of the lawmaker’s significant contributions to strengthening local government administration.She highlighted Nwoko’s critical role in ensuring the Paris and London Club loan refunds, a financial breakthrough she said enhanced the capacity of local governments nationwide.(NAN)
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