President of the Senate, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, Thursday asked world leaders to develop necessary political will to implementation United Nations’ (UN) resolutions on environmental issues.
In a statement by the Special Assistant to Senate President on Print Media, Chuks Okocha said that Saraki made the call when a delegation of the Working Group on Environmental Audit of African Organisation of the Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI WGEA) paid him a courtesy visit at the National Assembly, Abuja.
Senate President, who was responding to the address by the leader of the delegation, acknowledged that some of the issues already highlighted remained to be implemented due to absence of appropriate political will by the leaders.
Saraki said, “I think some key points you made, some of the agreements you talk about that you have signed with some organisations, the point is how far have they have gone on implementation? Who is making sure that they are being implemented?
“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 added, “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 the point we are and 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.
“So, I want to commend the efforts you are making and to assure you that we are going to cooperate to bring more successes to what you are doing.
“We can do that as part of efforts to make your work easier and to bring more success to what you are doing. I think that it will go a long way in helping and making the environment much better.”
The Senate President commended the relevance of AFROSAI on environmental issues and assured that the National Assembly would lend necessary support to the group.
Leader of the delegation, Mrs. Mbah Acha Rose Fomundam, explained that AFROSAI – WGEA is mandated to contribute to the understanding by member institutions on specific issues linked to environmental auditing, facilitate the exchange of information and experiences among Supreme Audit Institutions, update and improve standards and tools for environmental audit, including dissemination of guidelines and other current materials on the environment.
She noted that the theme of this year’s meeting hosted by Nigeria, is “Working together for a sustainable and healthy environment in Africa.”
The theme, she said, calls on all to respect the environment, the common heritage without which no life is possible.
She said, “Environmental sustainability has become a global challenge, synonymous to responsibility towards future generations. Through many initiatives, conferences and summits, world leaders came to the understanding that the natural resources of the earth are not unlimited.”