Mr. Tolu Ogunlesi, a spokesperson for the group gave the commendation in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja.

“The Paris Climate Summit at which the historic agreement was adopted took place within President Buhari’s first year in office.

“Nigeria made significant commitments, known as our Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), under the terms of that agreement.

“In March 2017, the president signed the instrument of Ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement,” Ogunlese said.

He said that since the Paris Climate Summit, Nigeria had demonstrated strong commitment towards tackling climate change issues.

He said that in 2017, Nigeria became the first African country and the third country in the world to issue a Sovereign Green Bond, worth N10.69 billion.

This, he said, was followed up in 2019 with a second Sovereign Green Bond, worth N15 billion.

Ogunlese said that the world had unequivocally recognized Buhari as a global climate action leader and champion following his engagements and pronouncements at the recent Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland.

He said in the lead-up to the conference, TIME Magazine acknowledged Nigeria’s place in the climate action movement with a feature of Buhari on its cover.

“The 2022 Federal Budget, currently being considered by the National Assembly, is the first climate-responsive budget in the history of the country.

“Already, since 2020, the Federal Government launched a Solar Power Naija project, being implemented by the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) to electrify five million households and 25 million Nigerians, using off-grid solar power,” he said.

He added that the Solar Power Naija project would support the creation of a quarter of a million jobs in the energy sector alone.

Ogunlese said in July and October 2021 respectively, the National Assembly passed the Climate Change Bill.

This, he said would provide a much-needed legal framework for Nigeria’s efforts to decisively tackle climate change.

“Also in 2021, Buhari approved the country’s Revised National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) (2021-2030) as well as National Climate Change Programmes.

“The president indeed takes Nigeria’s commitments under the Paris agreement very seriously,” he said.

He added that as chairman of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (LCBC), President Buhari had been a strident advocate for the recharging of the Lake.

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He said Nigeria was also getting set to assume the leadership of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Pan African Agency of the Great Green Wall.

“Ambitious and impactful climate action will no doubt be one of the many positive legacies of the Buhari administration,” he said.