Strategic evaluation of the 2021 Nigeria Climate Change Act: Surmounting challenges, paving the way for success, and envisioning future trajectories

Abstract

The 2021 Climate Change Act is a pioneering initiative aimed at addressing the pressing global issue of climate change. This study evaluates the Act's impact, and its prospects for achieving energy security, environmental sustainability, economic prosperity, and social justice. The paper dissects the hurdles facing the Act and outlines a strategy to realize the Act's ambitions via public investments in green infrastructure, technology, energy efficiency and robust support for renewable energy sources. The study delves into the Act's capacity to shape the trajectory of future climate policies, identifying focal points and strategies essential for its successful implementation. It underscores the Act's potential and the obstacles it must surmount to be an effective instrument for climate change mitigation via reforms. Employing a rigorous doctrinal legal research methodology, this study relies on an extensive array of primary and secondary legal sources. The study unveils the struggle in combating the repercussions of climate change, due to reliance on fossil fuels as a primary revenue source. It concludes that low-carbon energy is an option, recommending the domestication of the CCA, 2021, establishment of a Forest Commission to safeguard forests and advocates the use of windfall and solar energy for a transition towards a green economy.