Tinubu arrives in Abuja following his participation in the COP28 summit held in Dubai

After spending six days in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), President Bola Tinubu has returned to Abuja. While in Dubai, he attended the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference (CoP28) as well as various side activities.

Last Wednesday, Tinubu departed from Nigeria and arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja around 6:45 p.m.

The President was present when an expedited performance agreement to accelerate the rollout of Nigeria’s 12,000 megawatt Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) was signed while he was in Dubai.

He spoke to world leaders on Saturday at a panel on African green industrialization that was organised by the CoP28 Presidency and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates. He stressed the importance of risk management for Africa’s complete and quick transition to cleaner energy.

President Tinubu stated that Nigeria is introducing a trailblazing initiative to deploy a fleet of 100 electric buses, which is a significant step towards a sustainable and eco-friendly future. He was speaking at a high-level meeting with stakeholders and investors on the Nigeria Carbon Market and Electric Buses Rollout Programme.

Minister of Information and National Orientation Mohammed Idris enumerated some of the previously mentioned benefits in a statement, highlighting some of the investment and collaboration prospects as well as benefits coming to the country from the CoP28.

“In order to improve Nigeria’s electricity supply, Germany and Nigeria signed an accelerated performance agreement to expedite the implementation of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI).” In front of President Tinubu and Chancellor Scholz, the deal was signed by Ms. Nadja Haakansson, the managing director and senior vice president of Siemens Energy for Africa, and Mr. Kenny Anuwe, the managing director and CEO of FGN Power Company.

“On the fringes of the COP28 climate summit, President Tinubu hosted a high-level meeting with stakeholders and investors on the Nigeria Carbon Market and the Electric Buses Rollout Programme.”

“The Director-General of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), Dr. Dahiru Salisu, and the Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Mr. Zacch Adedeji, jointly unveiled the Nigeria Carbon Market Activation Plan with the President.

The Electric Buses programme is just the beginning of a long list of creative, eco-friendly, cutting-edge, and sustainable projects in various industries. These projects are all meant to concurrently address issues related to climate change, lower carbon emissions, update infrastructure, and present Nigeria as a desirable location for foreign investment.

The Loss and Damage Fund, which was created during COP-27 in Egypt and fully operationalized during the COP-28 opening plenary in Dubai, is expected to be beneficial to Nigeria. The Fund will support the nations most impacted by climate change by offering significant non-debt finance. Already, contributions of hundreds of millions of dollars have been promised to the Fund.

In order to formalise their engagements, the presidents of the UAE and the US also met. This is apart from the one-on-one discussions that have been had with multiple nations and international partners, according to Idris’ statement from Monday.