The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has charged Nigerians to see climate change as an encroachment into human rights provisions and practices.
The Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Dr. Tony Ojukwu canvassed this while inaugurating the National Working Group on Human Rights and Climate Change in Abuja.
He maintained that climate change is no longer just an environmental issue but a human rights issue.
According to Ojukwu, “Every flooded community, every displaced family, every child forced out of school by disaster, every farmer who loses a harvest and every community struggling to survive tells a story that deserves attention.
“It’s not just about rising temperatures,” he said. “It’s about people”, “It’s about families losing their homes, farmers losing their livelihoods, communities being uprooted and vulnerable people falling deeper into poverty.”
He asked a simple but powerful question that should guide every climate policy: How does it affect people? That question is at the heart of the newly inaugurated National Working Group, a partnership between the NHRC, the Federal Ministry of Environment and the National Council on Climate Change.
The mission of the working group is simple but profound to ensure that while Nigeria fights climate change, it also protects the rights and dignity of its people.
The Working Group is tasked to bring together government institutions, civil society organisations, academics and development partners to ensure that those most affected are no longer left out of the conversation.
Representing the Minister of Environment, Dr. Iniobong Abiola Awe assured Nigerians that the Ministry is committed to climate policies that leave no one behind.
For the Director-General of the National Council on Climate Change, Dr. (Mrs.) Omotenioye Majekodunmi, “the evidence is impossible to ignore, flooding, migration, farmer-herder conflicts, rising temperatures. These are no longer isolated environmental problems.
“They are daily realities affecting lives, livelihoods and human dignity across the country.”
The civil society while lending its voice, the Founder of the Women Environmental Programme, Dr. Priscilla Achakpa, pledged continued support for climate justice, especially for women, young people and other vulnerable groups whose voices are often unheard.
The Federal Commissioner for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Aliyu Tijani Ahmed also reaffirmed its commitment to protecting people displaced by climate-related disasters.
The Federal Commissioner was represented at the occasion by former Director at the NHRC, Mr. Dahiru Bobbo.
While the Presidency, through the Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Climate Change, Comrade Yussuf Olatunji Kelani, promised support for the Working Group’s activities.
But beyond the speeches and the inauguration, the critical issue include that climate change is not just about the planet.
“It is about the people who call it home. It is about the child whose classroom is destroyed by floods.The mother wondering where the next meal will come from after her crops fail.
“The young graduate forced to abandon his community because life there is no longer sustainable. Their stories matter. Their rights matter. And their future matters.”
For the NHRC, the inauguration of the National Working Group is not simply the launch of another committee.
“It is a promise. A promise that as Nigeria responds to climate change, people, not just policies will remain at the centre of every action. Because protecting the climate should also mean protecting humanity.
“After all, when people suffer because of climate change, protecting human rights becomes everyone’s responsibility.”
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