# 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. |