Amina Mohammed, a former Nigerian minister and current Deputy Secretary of the United Nations (UN) as well as the richest man in Africa, Aliko Dangote, have been picked as Ambassadors of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC).
They were picked at the just concluded second conference of Heads of State and Government of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC), held on the margins of 36th AU Summit in Addis Ababa.
A communiqué emanating from the Summit yesterday, February 18, gave names of other “eminent personalities” selected to be Ambassadors for advocacy and the mobilization of resources for the financing of climate related programmes and actions in the region, as former President of the Republic of Niger and first president of the Commission, Issoufou Mahamadou, the UN Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Mohammed.
Others are Ibrahim Hassane Mayaki, Tidjane Thiam, Aliko Dangote, MO Ibrahim; Ibrahima Thiaw, Paul Kammogne Fokam and Mossadeck Bally.
The Commission chose Nigeria to host the Secretariat of the Sahel Climate Fund even as it approved the appointment of Issifi Boureim of Niger Republic as the Executive Secretary of the Commission.
Boureim, until his appointment, was the Coordinator of the Transitory Operational Framework of the Commission.
His appointment is for a non-renewable period of three years, without the possibility of candidacy for future terms of office.
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria had earlier declared Nigeria’s interest to host the headquarters of the Sahel Climate Fund, promising that the country will provide all necessary amenities.
The “Sahel Climate Fund” is the financial body of the Sahel Region Climate Commission (SRCC).
The body is one of the three climate Commissions for Africa created in Marrakech, Morocco in 2016 at the Summit of African Heads of State and Government, organised at the initiative of King of Morocco, on the sidelines of the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Among other decisions by leaders of member countries during the mini-summit in Addis Ababa include the adoption of the methods of contributions from the States for the financing of the operations of the Executive Secretariat and the Sahel Climate Fund as well as for the participation in the 1st recapitalization of the said Fund.
A panel of Heads of State comprising President Buhari, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, President Alassane Quattara of Cote d’Ivoire and General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno of Chad was established to support the work of the President of the Commission.
