To help decrease carbon emissions in Nigeria, the Federal Government has finalized plans to introduce a carbon tax. A carbon tax is a fee placed on the amount of carbon emissions released into the atmosphere.
The National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) is working on a system to determine the fee based on the volume of emissions. Yesterday, during a stakeholders’ workshop in Abuja on the incentives and challenges of effective carbon tax systems in West Africa,
Professor Romanus Ezeokonkwo, Acting Vice Chancellor of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, confirmed that the Federal Government, through the NCCC, is creating strategies for a robust carbon finance system, including a carbon market framework and carbon tax regime, in line with the Climate Change Act.
He said this aligns with the global discussions on climate change, which stress the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions through policies like carbon taxation. Professor Ezeokonkwo urged stakeholders to educate the public about the government’s plan.
“The topic of today’s workshop is very timely, as the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the NCCC, is now forming strategies to implement a strong carbon finance system for the country, including a carbon market framework and carbon tax regime, in line with the Climate Change Act.
Moreover, the timing of this workshop is critical due to the ongoing global discussions on climate change mitigation, which highlight the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions through practical policies such as carbon taxation.
Your role as stakeholders in this workshop is essential. Although effective carbon pricing is seen as a strong tool in the global fight against climate change, gaining public support for environmental policies is still a major challenge in Africa.
Therefore, this workshop seeks valuable input from key stakeholders in the areas of carbon pricing and fuel subsidy reforms in Nigeria and Ghana,” he said.
In his comments, Abass Ibrahim Tasunti, Head of Economic Regulation at the National Petroleum Authority of Ghana, said that Ghana is also working hard to significantly reduce fossil fuel emissions. He noted that the country’s focus is mainly on industries that emit large amounts of carbon.
However, he added that Ghana has not yet set a fixed rate for this. “The main idea of carbon taxation, in my view, is to introduce taxes that encourage people to move away from using fossil fuels. Policymakers are trying to find a way to tax petroleum products and use the revenue to support other alternative fuels.
If this is done, it will provide consumers with options because, as you will agree, fossil fuels will not disappear overnight. I believe these carbon taxation initiatives and cleaner fuel initiatives are meant to work alongside the use of fossil fuels,” he said.
