# taz.de -- Enviromental activist about elections in Nigeria: „Many Nigerians are tired“
       
       > Nigeria's foremost environmental activist Nnimmo Bassey talks about the
       > upcoming elections. He also speaks about the need for change and the
       > climate issue.
       
   IMG Bild: People in Nigeria hope for a better future
       
       taz : In Nigeria, elections are just around the corner. Is anyone talking
       about climate change? 
       
       Nnimmo Bassey: In Abuja we had a town hall meeting with the presidential
       candidates. We invited all of them. Four finally showed up. We asked them
       questions about the environment. They did show a sense of understanding,
       although it might not be from the same perspective I would like. As the
       majority didn’t come we cannot be sure. But the environment has not been a
       topic in the campaigns. So we had to question them. Over the years the
       environment has been a critical issue in Nigeria but the policy makers
       don’t seem to understand this. Or they just take it as something nothing
       can be done about.
       
       In general in Nigeria people vote for persons, not so much because of their
       agenda.... 
       
       In this particular election circle I have personally not seen anything as
       vicious as personal attacks. They talk about whether they are corrupt,
       thieves, drug pushers. But they are not discussing the issues.
       
       Is this surprising? 
       
       No. Many of the parties basically have the same platform and ideology. Most
       of them are for privatisation of public resources and for the ease of doing
       business that opens up the country to anyone who want to exploit. Because
       they don’t have differences in what they believe, they can also change from
       one party to another. We hope that will change. The younger parties with
       the younger presidential candidates tend to have more defined positions.
       But there is no difference between the major ones.
       
       You have been an activist for such a long time. How do you feel about this? 
       
       We were hoping that the situation in the country would help us to choose a
       better leader, because almost everything has broken down. Going back for
       more of the same is surely giving the same results. The nature of the
       economic meltdown gives me hope that Nigerians will wake up to the fact
       that you can’t trust many of those leaders who have been recycled for
       years.
       
       You have been advocating against gas flaring and oil production for
       decades. What are the most important topics regarding climate change today? 
       
       To me as somebody campaigning against the fossil fuel sector that is still
       the number one issue. We still have gas flaring releasing millions of
       tonnes of carbon in the atmosphere, also polluting the environment,
       crossing biodiversity laws, displacement of communities and so many
       problems. We also have big problems of deforestation and coastal erosion.
       
       Nigeria experienced heavy floods last year… 
       
       All Nigerians are very conscious about that. In October massive flooding
       killed 630 people by the official count. People understand this is climate
       change and also the responsibility of the leaders to provide help for the
       people, to build dams to stop the water from Cameroon. Just recently it has
       been announced that we should expect more flooding. So people just sit and
       wait. They have not recovered from the last flooding and a new one is
       coming.
       
       In Germany almost twenty years ago people argued that one of the
       politicians, Gerhard Schröder, won elections because he visited places
       heavily affected by floods and listened to the people affected. Is
       something like that possible in Nigeria as well? 
       
       Peter Obi is always stressing the fact that when the flood disaster
       happened in October he was right there with the people, looking for
       solutions. That could convince some people. But I am not sure to what
       degree that would effect the results.
       
       In general Peter Obi seems to be popular among the young generation… 
       
       A lot of young people think that he is the alternative. He comes through at
       somebody who can be trusted. That attracts young but also old people. I
       believe that many Nigerians are tired of recycling leadership. But he falls
       a bit into the same cycle because he has been in politics for quite a
       while. We have some who are much newer. He might be the candidate to beat
       for all the parties. But we never forget that he wanted to be the PDP
       candidate. He shifted when he could not get the ticket. Choosing him is for
       many people a protest because they have been oppressed and didn’t have a
       choice.
       
       Is Nigeria at a crossroads right now? 
       
       The election will define a lot of things, if we have a leader that people
       trust. Nigerians are very good at following leaders. If you have a bad
       leader they follow a bad leader, if you have a good leader they follow a
       good leader. If we have a bad leader, they see that anything goes. People
       do have to survive, so they do whatever they can do. So it could just be a
       reset. It can happen that you have a reset and things could change
       dramatically within a short while. But the climate issue will not
       disappear. It needs to be tackled. If that is done it will cut down all the
       new phenomenon we have here, a lot of migration of Nigerians, young people.
       They call it “japa“, just checking out, leaving. A lot of young people are
       leaving. But if they see there is a programme for change, that there is
       actually something happening, that can obtain a slowdown.
       
       23 Feb 2023
       
       ## AUTOREN
       
   DIR Katrin Gänsler
       
       ## TAGS
       
   DIR Nigeria
   DIR Umwelt
   DIR Klima
   DIR Schwerpunkt Klimawandel
   DIR Nigeria
   DIR Nigeria
   DIR Nigeria
   DIR Nigeria
       
       ## ARTIKEL ZUM THEMA
       
   DIR Wahlen in Nigeria: Trotz allem gut
       
       Trotz Gewalt und Chaos ist die Wahl in Nigeria ein Erfolg. Die Bevölkerung
       will sich nicht einschüchtern lassen und setzt auf Demokratie.
       
   DIR Umweltaktivist über Wahlen in Nigeria: „Diese Wahl wird vieles klären“
       
       Am Samstag findet die Präsidentschaftswahl in Nigeria statt. Der bekannte
       Umweltaktivist Nnimmo Bassey äußert sich dazu und zum Klimawandel.
       
   DIR Präsidentschaftswahl in Nigeria: Endspurt im Pulverfass
       
       Kurz vor der Wahl erscheint das Rennen um die Präsidentschaft offen. Die
       Jungen sehnen sich nach Wandel, die etablierten Parteien setzen auf Sieg.
       
   DIR Wahlkampf in Nigeria: Kleine Partei im Höhenflug
       
       Am 25. Februar wird in Nigeria gewählt. Das Land steckt in einer tiefen
       Krise. Nun mischt Peter Obi den Wahlkampf auf.