By Lizzy Chirkpi
Former House of Representatives member and President of GLOBE Legislators, Sir Sam Onuigbo, has called on African countries to move beyond participation in global climate negotiations and take greater control of the rules, institutions, financing mechanisms and implementation pathways shaping the continent’s climate future.
Onuigbo made the call in a presentation titled, “From Pledges to Implementation: African Agency and the Belém–Antalya–Addis Roadmap,” at the 14th Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA-XIV), held at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
He argued that Africa’s climate challenge was no longer simply about vulnerability but increasingly about agency, stressing that the continent must move from being represented in global climate discussions to becoming an author of the decisions that shape its future.
According to him, Africa must not only articulate its climate priorities but also determine what it designs, builds, finances, governs and defends.
“Agency means Africa sets terms rather than merely responding to terms set elsewhere,” he said, adding that the continent must move from being consulted to becoming an author of global climate rules and institutions.
Onuigbo, who sponsored Nigeria’s Climate Change Act 2021, said international climate diplomacy had produced numerous conventions, agreements, Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), net-zero commitments and climate finance pledges.
He, however, said the critical question was whether the institutions, financing, technologies and political will required to translate those commitments into action actually existed.
He said Africa could no longer afford to make its development future entirely dependent on external climate pledges whose delivery remained uncertain or delayed.
“Implementation cannot be treated as a technical follow-up to negotiation. It is a development strategy,” he said, stressing that climate action must deliver resilience, energy access, industrialisation, jobs, technology, food security and sustainable development.
The former lawmaker said Africa’s NDCs should be transformed from diplomatic submissions into practical implementation frameworks, supported by investment plans, sectoral strategies, accountability mechanisms and pipelines of bankable projects.
He said every climate commitment should clearly identify what would be delivered, by whom, at what cost, how it would be financed and measured, and how it would be sustained through political transitions.
Using Nigeria’s Climate Change Act 2021 as an example, Onuigbo said effective climate governance required clear authority, coordination, accountability and continuity.
He noted that the Act established the National Council on Climate Change under the Presidency, with the President as chairman, describing the arrangement as a response to institutional rivalry that could undermine coordinated climate action.
According to him, climate policy cuts across virtually every sector, including finance, energy, petroleum, transport, agriculture, trade, industry, water, planning and science, making effective coordination essential.
Onuigbo also cited Nigeria’s experience with major floods in 2012, 2022 and 2024 as evidence that climate risks could no longer be addressed solely through reactive disaster management.
He advocated a shift towards anticipatory climate-risk management through flood-risk mapping, improved drainage, dam safety, wetlands protection, land-use planning, early warning systems, resilient infrastructure and climate-responsive budgeting.
The GLOBE Legislators president further stressed the importance of African parliaments in translating climate commitments into laws, budgets, oversight and accountability.
He said climate leadership could not be left solely to negotiators attending Conferences of the Parties, arguing that it must be sustained throughout the year through parliaments, regional institutions, ministries, development banks, universities, technical agencies, civil society organisations, private investors and local governments.
Onuigbo identified five areas where Africa should seek greater influence in global climate governance.
They include shaping the accreditation and disbursement rules of multilateral climate funds; influencing the structure and terms of climate finance; shaping carbon-market rules under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement; influencing climate-related trade rules; and determining how adaptation, loss and damage, and resilience are measured.
He argued that African institutions with the requisite capacity should be prioritised in accessing, assessing and disbursing climate resources intended to address African challenges.
He also warned against climate finance arrangements that increase African countries’ debt burdens or leave them dependent on intermediaries outside the continent.
On carbon markets, Onuigbo said Africa should not merely supply cheap carbon credits while the greater value is captured elsewhere.
Instead, he said carbon finance should contribute to African industrialisation, land restoration, community benefits and long-term development.
He also called for greater coordination between climate negotiators, trade ministries and the African Continental Free Trade Area Secretariat to ensure that climate-related trade measures did not become new barriers to African industrialisation.
Under the proposed Belém–Antalya–Addis Roadmap, Onuigbo recommended a number of practical initiatives, including an African Climate Implementation Compact, a project-preparation facility, a continental adaptation investment pipeline, a climate intelligence network, a green industrialisation compact, an energy-access and transition compact, a fair climate-trade framework and a blue economy investment initiative.
He further urged African countries to mobilise domestic capital by using public resources strategically to attract pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, commercial banks, development-finance institutions and private investors.
On the continent’s energy transition, Onuigbo said a just transition for Africa must go beyond emissions reduction to address energy access, affordability, reliability, industrial opportunities, clean cooking, productive power and jobs.
He said Africa’s renewable energy potential, natural gas resources, critical minerals, agricultural resources, forests, oceans and youthful population must be transformed into value chains rather than exported as raw materials while finished green technologies are imported.
Ultimately, Onuigbo said African climate leadership should mean defining a development-compatible climate pathway, building institutions to implement it, using law and legislative oversight to sustain it, mobilising domestic capital alongside fair international finance, and shaping global rules before they are finalised.
“The real test of climate ambition is not the quality of the pledge, but the quality of implementation,” he said.
According to him, success should ultimately be measured by tangible improvements in the lives of Africans — from farmers being better protected against drought and flooding to communities gaining reliable energy, young people creating green enterprises, women gaining access to finance and land, cities becoming more resilient, and African industries becoming more competitive.
“Africa is vulnerable to climate change, but Africa is also valuable,” he said, stressing that the continent possesses the people, resources, institutions, markets, ecosystems, minerals, renewable-energy potential and maritime geography required to become a major contributor to global climate solutions.
He concluded that climate agency meant transforming those assets into resilience, prosperity and strategic influence, with African institutions, decisions, capital and authority at the centre of the continent’s climate future.