By Olu Fasan
Last week, I wrote about the dire economic
consequences for Nigeria as a petrostate almost solely reliant on oil and gas
exports. This week, I want to address another aspect of that intervention: the
climate impacts of Nigeria’s deepening commitment to burning fossil fuels.
Nothing demonstrates this commitment more than the excitement over the Dangote
Refinery and the government’s determination to license more private oil
refineries while pursuing new hydrocarbon exploration. The economic and climate
impacts of Nigeria’s fossil-fuel dependency pose existential threats to the
country’s future stability. Yet, Nigeria is entrenching itself as a hydrocarbon
country while paying lip service to energy transition.
