The Environmental Rights Action/ Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has expressed displeasure over the federal government “slow migration from dependence on fossils”, adding that “Nigeria is not ready for a post petroleum economy”.
The group lamented that the country “is still neck deep in seeking investments for oil prospecting; especially in the Gongola/Chad Basins- where it has committed billions of dollars to the expansion of Nigeria’s oil and gas reserves”.
Executive Director of ERA/FoEN, Dr. Godwin Uyi Ojo, disclosed this at a conference on Transitional Justice and Nigeria Beyond Oil, conference held in Port Harcourt.
Ojo whose address was contained in a statement he made available to journalists in Benin City, Edo state capital insisted that the disadvantages of fossil fuels were far greater than their advantages.
He said: “transitional justice requires that rich countries pay ecological debts to compensate for Nigeria’s stranded assets such as oil and gas reserves, account for the historical carbon emissions released into the atmosphere.
“Solar energy has all round advantages without any dangerous impact on the users and the environment.
“And the divestment of public finance, loans and subsidies from fossil fuels and investing on renewable energy development and development of cleaner technologies offers the opportunity for a post petroleum Nigeria.”
