The body pointed out that not only is coal power the largest single contributor to greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, it is also responsible for 41 per cent of mercury emission, which can travel a long distance before being deposited in soil or water. The Country Director of Global Rights, Abiodun Baiyewu-Beru, in a report titled: ‘Power at all Cost’, in Abuja, explained that emissions affect more communities than coal plant host areas. She argued that the 30 per cent coal power source utilisation policy is in contrast with the commitment made by President Buhari at the Climate Change Conference at Marrakech (COP22) in 2016 that Nigeria would become a reference point in carbon emission reduction. The Country Director of Power for All, Ifeoma Malo, said the quickest, cheapest and most sustainable means of enabling Nigerians access electricity is through decentralised renewable energy. This is because there are arguments that coal and gas would finish but there would always be sunlight.

Source: The Guardian January 14, 2018 06:00 UTC