by Adim Esoeh
Dr. Bukola Saraki has called on world leaders to channel their focus on the implementation of resolutions on environmental issues.
The Senate President gave this charge while speaking with a delegation of the Working Group on Environmental Audit of African Organisation of the Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI WGEA) who paid him a courtesy visit at the National Assembly, Abuja, yesterday.
While responding to an earlier speech by the leader of the delegation, Saraki acknowledged that some of the issues already highlighted remains to be implemented for development due to absence of appropriate political will by the leaders.
“By the time we leave all those conferences as politicians, we shake hands with ourselves, we take pictures, the real issues are these commitments. Are they being met?
“I think these are the areas we truly want to say that what you are doing will play a key role to ensure that some of these environmental policies and solutions that we put aside are addressed,” he said.
He went further to say that issues of deforestation and oil spillage, among others, should not be set aside but promptly addressed as it greatly affects the lives of the citizens.
According to the Senate President, “In Nigeria, we talk about deforestation, we talk about oil spillage, and it is clear that it is affecting the lives of our people all over. This shows us what we need to do.
“I think we don’t need to wait every 10 years for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to do reports. Groups like this can keep us constantly on our toes and I appreciate the fact that the Auditor-General have also decided to identify ways, apart from your core mandate, of addressing the issue of environment.”