Buhari arrives Poland for climate change summit

President Muhammadu Buhari has arrived Krakow, Poland, ahead of the 24th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP24) under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), taking place from December 2 to 4.

Mr Buhari arrived Military Base Balice, International Airport, Krakow at exactly 17:44 p.m., local time, an official statement from the presidency noted.

The president and his team arrived just when the town was experiencing its first snow of the winter season.

Temperature reading at the time of his arrival was -3 degrees Centigrade.

COP24 Summit is being held at the International Conference Centre (MCK), Katowice, an industrial hub, about 100 kilometers from Krakow.

Mr Buhari’s first official engagement will be a town hall meeting with Nigerians living in Poland on Sunday evening.

The President will during the Leaders’ Summit at COP24, on Monday morning deliver a national statement highlighting Nigeria’s commitment to addressing climate change by implementing the goals set out in its National Determined Contributions.

A press statement on the president’s engagements earlier released by his spokesperson, Femi Adesina, showed that Mr Buhari is expected to use the occasion to accentuate Nigeria’s willingness to work with international partners to reverse the negative effects of climate change in Africa and the world over.

His presentation will also highlight the expectations that developed nations will scale up their emission on reduction activities in order to limit the increase in average global temperatures to well below 2 degrees centigrade between now and 2020.

The statement also said the Summit is expected to adopt a ‘‘Declaration on Solidarity and Just Transition Silesia,’’ – named after the region of Poland where this year’s climate conference is taking place.

As a member of the Committee of the African Heads of State on Climate Change – a group of 10 African countries that meets and takes positions concerning issues of climate change on behalf of the continent – Nigeria has been at the forefront of advancing policies and initiatives aimed at addressing significant challenges occasioned by climate change such as reviving the Lake Chad, halting and reversing desertification, flooding, ocean surge and oil spillage.

The president is accompanied by Governors Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Yahaya Bello and Abubakar Sani Bello of Enugu, Kogi and Niger States, respectively.

Others on his entourage include the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama; the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu; and the Minister of State for Environment, Ibrahim Jibrin, as well as the National Security Adviser, Babagana Mongonu.