By Kayode Emola
The hot topic on the minds and hearts of many of the nations’ governments today is Climate Change, considering how our environment has been badly affected by our overzealous exploitation. Climate scientists are working hard to bring attention to the fact that we have only a very short window in which we can save the planet before it all falls apart on us. So, my question is, what should we as Africans, and especially Yorubas, be doing to make our nation self-sustaining, to build a future that progresses beyond an overdependence on natural resources?
With the United Nations COP26 meeting underway this weekend in Glasgow, addressing the climate change issue, many countries are beginning to submit proposals on how they intend to tackle the problem. Let’s get it clear, the issue of climate change is political as well as philosophical. As much as nations want to engage with this global challenge, they also want to preserve their existing way of life and avoid jeopardising the future of their nation.
Countries like the UK, in a bid to tackle climate change, are introducing ambitious policies regarding net-zero carbon emissions to the atmosphere. One such policy aims to ensure that diesel and petrol are phased out of circulation by around 2030. Another such ambition is the building of nuclear power stations, such as the Hinckley power plant, in order to replace the dependence on coal, as fossil fuel-based power is the largest contributing factor to the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.
Whilst some countries, including the British government, are making giant promises to achieve net-zero emission of carbon, many others, such as China, Australia, Saudi Arabia, etc, are falling short in their pledge to tackle the climate change phenomenon. Whilst we cannot blame China completely for their carbon emissions, given the worldwide dependence on products “Made in China”, and as we are all culprits in contributing to the climate change saga, I believe urgent steps need to be taken to achieve a worldwide net-zero of carbon emissions in the near future.
In the case of Yoruba nation, we can learn from the mistakes of Nigeria, where the development of critical infrastructures has been neglected or not built to provide good basic standard of living for the citizenry. For example, Nigeria releases over 7.5-billion-cubic feet of gas into the atmosphere on a yearly basis, a quantity worth over $6.3 billion which could have generated around 35 thousand gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electricity had we had the critical infrastructure to utilise this. According to NOSDRA, a government-run satellite tracker, this could have provided annual electricity for over 800 million Nigerians.
Nigeria had initially declared 1979 as the year that flares would be extinguished, under the Associated Gas Re-injection Act of 1979. However, since then, numerous revised deadlines have been proposed and continually missed, and 42 years later, we still continue to flare into the atmosphere greenhouse gases that could have been buried safely in the ground.
In a future Yoruba nation, we need to embrace technological advancement and integrate the use of renewable energies into our industrial strategy. Whilst many opportunities have been missed by Nigeria, we need to learn from these and build strategies that utilise the resources around us without having to go thousands of feet beneath the earth.
One such resource that has been woefully underutilised is solar energy which is readily available especially in our part of the world. With the huge quantities of heat and light energy produced by the sun, one way that governments around the world can combat the climate change crisis is to make it easier for existing and new buildings to be adapted for solar-based electricity generation. This would ensure that our dependence on fossil fuels can be reduced, if not completely eradicated altogether.
The future Yoruba nation needs to realise that our greatest asset is our people and therefore invest heavily on human capital development. If we are able to develop our human capital – which around the world today is estimated to be in the region of 80 – 100 million Yoruba people – then that provides huge potential to drive the economic growth needed to sustain our homeland.
Whether you believe it or not, climate change is real. We as Yorubas need to contribute our own quota in fighting this global scourge. With Nigeria continuing to make undeliverable pledges both to its citizens and to the world, there is no way we will be taken seriously in this on the global stage as long as we remain. We need now to reinforce our collective will as Yorubas to build a sovereign state that makes global pledges and is ready to fulfil them. That is the only way that the international communities will take us seriously.
Every Yoruba person must realise that in order for us to build a lasting legacy for the next generation, we need to be deliberate in our actions to reclaim our sovereignty. On the basis of the current trajectory, forced economic migration will result in more of the Yoruba race living in the diaspora than living in our homeland within the next 20 – 30 years. As good as migration is, it alone is inadequate to be the foundation on which we base our unity. Only through a determined and united focus on building our country, our legacy, and our sovereignty can we forge that coherent voice needed in the world stage.
