Debt Forgiveness for Alternative Energy

Mr. Vice President, I wish you good luck in your debt-for-climate swap talk with Mrs. Samantha Power. She is a phenomenal woman and a wonderful human being. I'm presently reading her memoir, THE EDUCATION OF AN IDEALIST; and combined with what I have known about her as head of the President Obama UN team and what I've gathered so far about her from the memoir, I can say without equivocation that she is one of the most compassionate, pragmatic, and intellectually savvy US diplomats in recent times. She is not your textbook-based intellectual. She is street-smart, globally speaking, despite her Ivy League background.

I have no doubt in my mind that climate change is real, and we cannot, therefore, underestimate the importance of green energy. Growing up in Nigeria, the "Ukhuakhua" (harmattan) season used to be freezingly unbearable and uncooperative, but it's no longer been the case in the past thirty-five years. I remember how we used to gather around the fire set on dried leaves, especially in the evening to vanquish the cold on our hands and feet. The present generations have no idea what I'm talking about.

Much as I'm praying that all our creditor nations buy into this proposal and relieve Nigeria of the associated perils of devoting much of our foreign revenue earnings to debt servicing, I would hope that the Vice President takes it upon himself to redirect his administration from the unwholesome path of continuing search for crude oil in some Basins as specified in the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), and rather, devote such funds to the development of alternative energy. That's what's going on in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and a few other developing nations.

Therefore, concrete and sustainable steps towards abating the fossil fuels epidemic and unceasing gas flaring in the Niger Delta must be integrated into whatever agreement the creditor nations or institutions hope to structure with Nigeria. For instance, the UN-sponsored Ogoni cleanup exercise is presently anemic, therefore, they must extract a bundle of commitment and strict adherence to the letter of the agreement from the Vice President and his administration. Because Climate Change is Real.