Nigeria is absent at the ongoing two-day seventh conference of parties of the African Risk Capacity, a specialized agency of the African Union Commission, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

By Maureen Chigbo, reporting from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

NIGERIA is conspicuously missing at the ongoing African Risk Capacity seventh Conference of Parties, COP7, which began today at the African Union complex in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Realnews, which is covering the conference live from Addis Ababa, reports that the Nigerian government signed a memorandum of understanding, MoU, with the African Risk Capacity, ARC, to work together to address the impact of extreme weather events in Nigeria, including training support to government personnel in Busan, South Korea, last year.

Given that the country is prone to natural disasters like flooding with its devastating impact on the lives of its people, Nigeria appear not to take seriously the opportunity offered by the ARC’s risk financing and management in Africa.

Just last year alone, nearly a quarter of a million households in Nigeria were at risk after heavy rains caused flooding that affected 80 per cent of the country. Hundreds of people died, houses were wrecked while farmlands were submerged by the angry flood in about 12 States. In Anambra State, South East, Nigeria alone, there are about 1000 gully erosion sites.

Realnews gathered that Nigeria was invited to the conference and several follow-up letters sent to the country by ARC but no official of the government responded to the invitation. “Unlike before when Nigeria will ask its embassy or ambassador in Ethiopia, to represent her, this time around we heard nothing despite the efforts we made,” an official of the ARC told Realnews.

The journey towards a mutual technical collaboration with Nigeria began in July 2015 when African Risk Capacity conducted a scoping mission to the country that established the need for Nigeria to give greater consideration to the ARC initiative.

Nigeria participated in the discussions leading to the establishment of ARC in 2012 and subsequently Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Finance minister was nominated as the chair of the African Risk Capacity Agency’s Governing Board.

Nigeria subsequently signed the ARC Establishment Agreement on December 4, 2014, to formally become a member of the institution.

Out of the 33 member states of the Africa Risk Capacity more than 22 are present at the COP7.  Countries present at the meeting are Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Comoros, Cote d’ Ivoire, Djiboti, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya,  Malawi, Mali, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The ARC was established as a specialized agency of the African Union, AU, to help member states improve their capacities to better plan, prepare and respond to extreme weather events and natural disasters. Through its first financial affiliate, ARC Ltd, the institution provides African governments with innovative risk management and risk transfer tools and services towards creating a comprehensive pan-African disaster response system.

“The leadership role of Nigeria in the continent and in the establishment of the ARC makes the signing of a formal MoU quite momentous for our work in the region,” Mohamed Beavogui, director-general of African Risk Capacity, said last year, adding : “We want to create systems that can truly protect the livelihoods of the most vulnerable and safeguard the significant development gains made by the country over the years.”

The two-day COP7 will end on Monday, April 1.

– Mar. 31, 2019 @ 2:24 GMT |