The Majority Leader of the Assembly, Kate Raymond, gave the assurance on Tuesday in Yola, adding that the state government is serious about issues concerning the environment.
She said this while receiving a draft policy on climate change developed for the state by the NGO.
Raymond was accompanied by other members of the Committee on Environment in the Assembly during the presentation of the draft policy which she received on behalf of the state lawmakers.
Speaking after receiving the document, Raymond assured the group of the state government’s readiness to domesticate the policy on climate change.
She said, “As time goes on, the draft policy would be presented on the floor of the House as a bill, and the governor will assent to the bill when it is passed because the heartbeat of the governor is on the environment.
“When you follow the trend in the state, you will notice that the governor is always talking about deforestation and the adverse effect of tree felling.
“So, when the governor sees this policy or this draft bill which we hope to lobby the passage, he will not hesitate to give us his consent.
“So, we are going to lobby to ensure that the draft bill on climate change developed from this policy document sees the light of the day without any waste of time.”
Earlier, one of the climate justice advocates in the state, Mr Akeweta Emmanuel, in his remarks, said the draft policy on climate change presented to state lawmakers was essential to the state in attaining its goal of climate compliance and resilience.
He said the draft policy if passed into law as promised by the state legislators, will help Adamawa mitigate the adverse impact of climate change.
On his part, the Executive Director, of the NGO, Dr Micheal David, explained that the engagement with the lawmakers was part of the process of getting the government at the sub-national levels to develop a framework and infrastructure through their institutions to protect their environments from the impact of climate change.
He said, “As it is, most policies are done at the federal level, and most are not domesticated by states, and this is where the population really exists, and the impact of climate change is even felt the most.
“So, what we have done is to work with members of the Adamawa State House of Assembly to support them to develop a climate change policy for the state. And today we officially presented the policy that we helped them to develop.”
