Africa Must Write Its Own Climate Rules, Onuigbo Tells Addis Summit

By Emameh Gabriel

Rt Hon Sir Sam Onuigbo, President of GLOBE Legislators and sponsor of Nigeria’s Climate Change Act 2021, has called on African leaders to take full ownership of the continent’s climate future, stating that Africa must write its own climate rules rather than wait for validation from abroad.

Onuigbo made the call on Monday at the Fourteenth Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-XIV), holding at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Speaking on the theme “From Pledges to Implementation: African Agency and the Belém, Antalya, Addis Roadmap,” Onuigbo quoted Nigeria’s late Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed, who told the Extraordinary Summit of the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa on 11 January 1976 that “the fortunes of Africa are in our hands to make or mar.”

According to Onuigbo, Africa’s climate challenge is no longer only a question of vulnerability but now one of agency.

“For decades, Africa has rightly insisted that the continent has contributed the least to historical greenhouse-gas emissions while suffering some of the most severe climate impacts. That argument remains valid. But the moment before Africa now requires something more: a shift from presenting climate priorities to exercising climate agency”, he said.

Onuigbo distinguished between participation, representation, and agency. He said participation means Africa is present at global climate tables, while representation means Africa’s interests are counted in declarations and negotiating texts. Agency, he explained, means Africa sets the terms rather than merely responding to terms set elsewhere.

He warned that Africa cannot afford to make its development future dependent on external pledges whose delivery remains uncertain or delayed.

“Implementation cannot be treated as a technical follow-up to negotiation,” Onuigbo said. “It is a development strategy. Climate action on the continent must deliver resilience, energy access, industrialisation, jobs, technology, investment, food security, and sustainable development.”

Citing Nigeria’s Climate Change Act 2021, which he sponsored, Onuigbo said the legislation translates climate ambition into law and governance. He noted that the Act establishes the National Council on Climate Change under the Presidency, with the President as its chair, to ensure coordination across all sectors.

He also referenced Nigeria’s floods in 2012, 2022 and 2024, saying they demonstrated that the cost of inaction is not theoretical.

“Lives were lost, millions were displaced, crops were destroyed, infrastructure was damaged, and economic losses were severe,” he said. “Africa must move from reactive disaster management to anticipatory climate-risk management.”

Onuigbo identified five areas of global climate governance where Africa must exercise agency: shaping the accreditation and disbursement rules of multilateral climate funds; shaping the future of climate finance beyond headline figures; shaping carbon-market rules under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement; shaping climate-related trade rules, including carbon-border measures; and shaping the metrics of adaptation, loss and damage, and resilience.

He also said Africa should arrive at global climate forums with projects and investment propositions, not only demands. He listed proposals including an African Climate Implementation Compact, a project-preparation facility, a continental adaptation investment pipeline, a climate intelligence network, and a green industrialisation compact.

“Africa is vulnerable to climate change, but Africa is also valuable,” Onuigbo said. “It has the people, resources, institutions, markets, ecosystems, minerals, renewable-energy potential, and maritime geography needed to become a major contributor to global climate solutions.”

He concluded: “Climate leadership is not simply asking for a better global system. It is building one, with African institutions, African decisions, African capital, and African authority at the centre.”

The CCDA-XIV conference, which ends on 9 September, is organised by the ClimDev-Africa Programme in partnership with the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank, the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA), and Afreximbank.