AN URGENT CALL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MINISTRY OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, ENERGY TRANSITION, CLIMATE CHANGE AND DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT FEDERAL RE

Climate Change, energy transition and Sustainable Development have become a matter of great discuss among countries and great economies of the world. The effect of climate change, energy transition and the need for sustainable development has attracted the attention of the world powers and Nigeria shouldn't be left out.

Japan recently and in the bid to curb the effect of climate change provides assistance by introducing renewable energy, including solar energy, biomass and geothermal, and facilities with high-energy efficiency, to contribute to reducing GHG emissions.

As Nigeria is about to implement Orosanya's report after 14 years, the Government under Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR should take proactive steps like other countries of the world to establish the Ministry of Climate Change and Sustainable development as a full fledged Ministry of the Federal Republic with office in Abuja and liaison in Lagos and not as a Department of the Federal Ministry of Environment.

The implementation of Orosanya's committee report will see to the scraping, subsuming, merging and relocation of several Ministries and agencies of Government which is a sort of the restructuring of the country.

This present administration should be bold enough and strongly willed to establish the Ministry of Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Energy transition and appoint erudite Prof. Damilola S. Olawuyi, SAN, FCIArb as pioneer Minister of Climate Change, Energy Transition and Sustainable Development ahead of 2030 SDG's Agenda and Nigeria 2050 net Zero GHG emission agenda.

Professor Damilola S. Olawuyi, SAN, FCIArb, is an international lawyer, professor of law, arbitrator, author, and policy consult a n t , w i t h expertise in petroleum, energy and environmental law. In 2015 , Professor Olawuyi was promoted to the rank of Full Professor of Law at Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria at the age of 32 years, becoming one of the youngest full professors of law in Nigerian history. He is Deputy Vice Chancellor,

Chancellor’s Fellow and Director of the Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute), Afe Babalola University, Nigeria. He holds the UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law and Sustainable Development at HBKU Law School, Doha, Qatar where he teaches energy and environmental law courses. Professor Olawuyi provides legal services as a Senior Counsel and Arbitrator at McNair International Law Firm.

Professor Olawuyi is a visiting counsel to several Nigerian and global law firms where he provides high level professional legal support in accordance with International standard practice.

A prolific and highly regarded scholar, Professor Olawuyi has practiced and taught law in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. He was formerly an international energy lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, Calgary, where he served on the firm’s global committee on extractive resource investments in Africa. He was also formerly deputy director and head of international environmental law at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo, Canada.

He has published several influential journal articles and books on natural resources, energy and environmental law. He has been an expert speaker and commentator at several international conferences. His most recent book publications include: Environmental Law in Arab States (Oxford University Press, 2022), Local Content and Sustainable Development in Global Energy Markets (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Climate Change Law and Policy in the Middle East and North Africa Region (Routledge, 2021), Extractives Industry Law in Africa (Springer, 2018) and The Human Rights-Based Approach to Carbon Finance (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

Professor Olawuyi is President of the International Law Association, Nigerian Branch; co-chair of the Africa Interest Group of the American Society of International Law (2016- 2019); and member of the Academic Advisory Group of the International Bar Association’s Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy; Associate Editor of the Carbon and Climate Law Review; and Senior Research Fellow of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, Montreal, Canada. He is a member of the Governing Council of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria, and a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators.

Professor Olawuyi has lectured on energy and environmental law in over 50 countries including: Qatar, Great Britain, Greece, France, Denmark, United States, Australia, Spain, China, India, Kenya, Netherlands, Canada, United States and across Nigeria. He has most recently served as BOK Visiting International Professor (VIP) at the University of Pennsylvania, United States. He previously received the Herbert Smith Freehills Visiting Professorship at the University of Cambridge, UK and the IAS Vanguard Fellowship of the University of Birmingham. He has served also served as a visiting professor of law at the China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing; University Research Fellow at the Consortium for Peace Studies, University of Calgary; and David Sive Scholar at Columbia Law School, New York, United States.

In recognition of his “substantial contribution to legal scholarship and jurisprudence,” Professor Olawuyi was awarded the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (Queen’s Counsel equivalent) in the year 2020, aged thirty-seven, therefore becoming the youngest academic ever elevated to the rank, and the very first graduate of a private university to become Senior Advocate of Nigeria. From 2020-2022, Professor Olawuyi served as an Independent Expert on the African Commission’s Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights. In 2021, he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as a member of the Governing Board of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI). In 2022, he was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council to represent Africa as an Independent Expert on the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

Professor Olawuyi has been admitted as Barrister and Solicitor in Alberta, Canada; Ontario, Canada; and Nigeria. He is a regular media commentator on all aspects of energy, climate change, international affairs, environment and sustainable development.

AREAS OF EXPERTISE:

? Petroleum law

? International environmental law

? Business and Human Rights in the Global Economy

? Climate change law and policy

? Natural resources law and policy

? Food and agricultural law

? Project finance

? Entrepreneurship law

? International Commercial Arbitration

EDUCATION:

? Doctor of Philosophy in Law (Dphil), University of Oxford,

United Kingdom

? Master of Laws (LL.M), Harvard University, United States

? Master of Laws (LL.M), University of Calgary, Canada

? Bar Certificate (First Class Honours), Nigerian Law School, Abuja

? Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours), Igbinedion University, Okada, Nigeria