The Network of Civil Society in Environment (NCSE) on Tuesday began a two-day engagement with the Kaduna State House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources on environmental protection and climate change.
The engagement was held at the house of assembly in collaboration with ‘Bridge That Gap Hope Initiative’, with support from the Nigerian Conservation Foundation (NCF).
The engagement was a continuation of ongoing efforts to improve citizens-legislators engagement at subnational levels towards an improved engagement with constituents in the area of representation, oversight and legislation.
While speaking, Danjuma Dangwa,the Deputy Coordinator NSCE, said the objective of the engagement was to strengthen the dialogue and cooperation between Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and legislators.
Dangiwa said that the cooperation would help in developing and implementing an engagement framework that models the expectations of all stakeholders in climate change for better policy outcomes through legislation, representation and oversight.
He added that the engagement would promote the exchange of best practices to provide pathways for effective engagement between legislators and constituents on climate issues.
Dangwa stated that the biggest challenge of climate change was denial by citizens as most people were not knowledgeable about the adverse effects of climate change.
“Year in and year out, if you look at the budget on the environment,you will know that the environment is not prioritized; we have lost our indigenous trees and some animals have gone extinct.
“There is also the need for people to understand what the government is doing for them; we want to see that the gap is breached between the government and the people, especially about legislation,” he said.
In his address, the Chairman of the environment, Mr Stingo Danlami, lamented the adverse effect of climate change on the environment.
He added that all hands must be on deck to ensure that the environment was protected by stopping deforestation,bush burning and indiscriminate refuse dumping.
Danlami commended NCSE and other relevant partners for facilitating the programme, saying that their partnership with the state assembly would be sustained.
He said the legislators would ensure that the ministry of environment and natural resources takes a step back into the planting of trees across the state.
“When you go to any major city in Kaduna state you find out that there are refuse dumps all over the place; “Except if sanitation is reintroduced,you will be sure that the environment would be contaminated and diseases that people think might have gone would come back.
“We will ensure that while trees are planted the environment is kept clean for a hygienic and safe communities,” he said.
