Nigeria has been chosen by the Heads of State and Government of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC) to host the Secretariat of the Sahel Climate Fund.
This is according to a communiqué issued at the end of the second conference of Heads of State and Government of SRCC, held on the margins of the 36th AU Summit.
In a press statement released on Monday by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, President Muhammadu Buhari declared Nigeria’s interest to host the headquarters of the Sahel Climate Fund and readiness to provide all necessary amenities.
The conference also approved the appointment of Issifi Boureim of Niger Republic as the Executive Secretary of the Commission, for a non-renewable period of three years, without the possibility of candidacy for future terms of office. Boureim, until his appointment, was the Coordinator of the Transitory Operational Framework of the Commission.
Among other decisions by leaders of member countries during the mini-summit in Addis Ababa include the adoption of the methods of contributions from the states for the financing of the operations of the Executive Secretariat and the Sahel Climate Fund as well as for the participation in the 1st recapitalization of the said Fund.
A panel of Heads of State comprising President Buhari, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, President Alassane Quattara of Cote d’Ivoire, and General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno of Chad was established to support the work of the President of the Commission.
The communique also named eminent personalities as Ambassadors for advocacy and the mobilization of resources for the financing of climate-related programmes and actions in the region.
The Ambassadors are Issoufou Mahamadou, former President of the Republic of Niger and first president of the Commission, Amina Mohammed, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Tidjane Thiam, Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki, MO Ibrahim, Aliko Dangote, Ibrahima Thiaw, Paul Kammogne Fokam and Mossadeck Bally.