By Pius Awunah
Speakers at the second and last day of the 2025 Africa Climate Forum (ACF) in Abuja were unanimous in their submissions for a collective action on climate change in the country.
First, to speak as the Forum wound down on Wednesday, October 15,2025,was the Deputy Chairman, House Committee on Environment and Member, representing Kwande/Ushongo Federal Constituency in Benue State,Hon.
Terseer Ugbor who called for collaborative efforts to combat climate change.
He said Africa alone can not finance the transition as the continent required efforts and partnerships to achieve that.
Ugbor stated that the Nigerian government must take concrete steps towards climate change in the country by imbibing it as an inbuilt deoxyribonucleic acid(DNA) in governance,adding that on its part the green chamber of the National Assembly passed the Climate Change Act in 2021, which provides a framework for aligning development with sustainability.
“It is also why the government launched the Energy Transition Plan, a bold roadmap to reach near-zero by 2060, while expanding energy access and creating jobs.
”But let me be honest, the real work does not happen on paper. It happens on how we translate these policies into the budgets we approve, the projects we fund, and the oversight we carry out as parliamentarians, “he stated.
The lawmaker maintained that Africa does not need to choose between light and life as both are needed,stressing that “AFrica has abundant solar, wind, hydro, and even gas resources and the approach should not be to abandon one for the other, but to design integrated systems that deliver clean, reliable, and affordable power”.
In his presentation, a professor of electrochemist and materials scientist, Emeka Oguzie, said that for Nigeria to have a renewable energy technology system, young people should be supported by the government.
He said a country that disregards universities would not develop and that Nigeria and Africa Power Challenges were technological and not policy problems.
According to him, the country had failed to develop a technology for the use of coal, which is essential in development, but that China had successfully done well in that regard.
Also,a mechanical engineer and material scientist,Dr. Esther Anosike Francis raised a question on how to manufacture a solar system locally for use and make it affordable to save the climate.
She named the green technology in Africa as Biomass,Thermal, Solar, and many others but regretted the inability to harness them.
She called for collaboration with the government to properly harness green technology in the country to save our climate.
Another contributor, Dr. Ifeyinwa Ijeoma Obianyo advised individuals to take action while groups and corporate bodies should contribute to saving the climate.
