Nigeria Seeks Alternative Energy Sources, Economic Growth Levers Beyond Oil - Minister

The shift to clean energy is inevitable, whether oil producing countries want it or not, and Nigeria is already looking for alternative energy sources and ways to ensure economic growth without dependence on oil, Nigerian Environment Minister Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar told Sputnik

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 10th December, 2019) The shift to clean energy is inevitable, whether oil producing countries want it or not, and Nigeria is already looking for alternative energy sources and ways to ensure economic growth without dependence on oil, Nigerian Environment Minister Mohammad Mahmood Abubakar told Sputnik.

"Nigeria is an oil producing country with problems at hand. Every single nation, not only oil producing, should also look at other sources of energy, alternative sources of energy. Whether you look or you don't, the rest of the world is shifting toward alternative sources of energy. In the end you will be forced to. So it is better to work alongside with the rest of the world," Abubakar said on the sidelines of the 25th UN Climate Change Conference (COP25).

According to the minister, shifting to clean energy is an important component of adaptation and resilience amid climate change, even if profits from fossil fuels will have to be given up.

"We can find ways of creating other economic growth factors, not just relying on oil, which we are doing already in Nigeria," he added.

The COP25 launched on December 2 in the Spanish capital of Madrid to run through Friday. The agenda is focused on the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement. The treaty's most well-known premise is to try to keep the global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels and to ideally pursue an even lower limit of 1.5 degrees.