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# taz.de -- Enviromental activist about elections in Nigeria: „Many Nigerians…
> Nigeria's foremost environmental activist Nnimmo Bassey talks about the
> upcoming elections. He also speaks about the need for change and the
> climate issue.
Bild: People in Nigeria hope for a better future
taz : In Nigeria, elections are just around the corner. Is anyone talking
about climate change?
Nnimmo Bassey: In Abuja we had a town hall meeting with the presidential
candidates. We invited all of them. Four finally showed up. We asked them
questions about the environment. They did show a sense of understanding,
although it might not be from the same perspective I would like. As the
majority didn’t come we cannot be sure. But the environment has not been a
topic in the campaigns. So we had to question them. Over the years the
environment has been a critical issue in Nigeria but the policy makers
don’t seem to understand this. Or they just take it as something nothing
can be done about.
In general in Nigeria people vote for persons, not so much because of their
agenda....
In this particular election circle I have personally not seen anything as
vicious as personal attacks. They talk about whether they are corrupt,
thieves, drug pushers. But they are not discussing the issues.
Is this surprising?
No. Many of the parties basically have the same platform and ideology. Most
of them are for privatisation of public resources and for the ease of doing
business that opens up the country to anyone who want to exploit. Because
they don’t have differences in what they believe, they can also change from
one party to another. We hope that will change. The younger parties with
the younger presidential candidates tend to have more defined positions.
But there is no difference between the major ones.
You have been an activist for such a long time. How do you feel about this?
We were hoping that the situation in the country would help us to choose a
better leader, because almost everything has broken down. Going back for
more of the same is surely giving the same results. The nature of the
economic meltdown gives me hope that Nigerians will wake up to the fact
that you can’t trust many of those leaders who have been recycled for
years.
You have been advocating against gas flaring and oil production for
decades. What are the most important topics regarding climate change today?
To me as somebody campaigning against the fossil fuel sector that is still
the number one issue. We still have gas flaring releasing millions of
tonnes of carbon in the atmosphere, also polluting the environment,
crossing biodiversity laws, displacement of communities and so many
problems. We also have big problems of deforestation and coastal erosion.
Nigeria experienced heavy floods last year…
All Nigerians are very conscious about that. In October massive flooding
killed 630 people by the official count. People understand this is climate
change and also the responsibility of the leaders to provide help for the
people, to build dams to stop the water from Cameroon. Just recently it has
been announced that we should expect more flooding. So people just sit and
wait. They have not recovered from the last flooding and a new one is
coming.
In Germany almost twenty years ago people argued that one of the
politicians, Gerhard Schröder, won elections because he visited places
heavily affected by floods and listened to the people affected. Is
something like that possible in Nigeria as well?
Peter Obi is always stressing the fact that when the flood disaster
happened in October he was right there with the people, looking for
solutions. That could convince some people. But I am not sure to what
degree that would effect the results.
In general Peter Obi seems to be popular among the young generation…
A lot of young people think that he is the alternative. He comes through at
somebody who can be trusted. That attracts young but also old people. I
believe that many Nigerians are tired of recycling leadership. But he falls
a bit into the same cycle because he has been in politics for quite a
while. We have some who are much newer. He might be the candidate to beat
for all the parties. But we never forget that he wanted to be the PDP
candidate. He shifted when he could not get the ticket. Choosing him is for
many people a protest because they have been oppressed and didn’t have a
choice.
Is Nigeria at a crossroads right now?
The election will define a lot of things, if we have a leader that people
trust. Nigerians are very good at following leaders. If you have a bad
leader they follow a bad leader, if you have a good leader they follow a
good leader. If we have a bad leader, they see that anything goes. People
do have to survive, so they do whatever they can do. So it could just be a
reset. It can happen that you have a reset and things could change
dramatically within a short while. But the climate issue will not
disappear. It needs to be tackled. If that is done it will cut down all the
new phenomenon we have here, a lot of migration of Nigerians, young people.
They call it “japa“, just checking out, leaving. A lot of young people are
leaving. But if they see there is a programme for change, that there is
actually something happening, that can obtain a slowdown.
23 Feb 2023
## AUTOREN
Katrin Gänsler
## TAGS
Nigeria
Umwelt
Klima
Schwerpunkt Klimawandel
Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria
## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA
Wahlen in Nigeria: Trotz allem gut
Trotz Gewalt und Chaos ist die Wahl in Nigeria ein Erfolg. Die Bevölkerung
will sich nicht einschüchtern lassen und setzt auf Demokratie.
Umweltaktivist über Wahlen in Nigeria: „Diese Wahl wird vieles klären“
Am Samstag findet die Präsidentschaftswahl in Nigeria statt. Der bekannte
Umweltaktivist Nnimmo Bassey äußert sich dazu und zum Klimawandel.
Präsidentschaftswahl in Nigeria: Endspurt im Pulverfass
Kurz vor der Wahl erscheint das Rennen um die Präsidentschaft offen. Die
Jungen sehnen sich nach Wandel, die etablierten Parteien setzen auf Sieg.
Wahlkampf in Nigeria: Kleine Partei im Höhenflug
Am 25. Februar wird in Nigeria gewählt. Das Land steckt in einer tiefen
Krise. Nun mischt Peter Obi den Wahlkampf auf.
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