Greenhouse gases emissions and their reduction strategies: Perspectives of Africa's largest economy

This paper reviewed GHGs emissions from key sectors in Nigeria as well as institutional and policy responses toward cutting their emissions and drawbacks to the nation's clean energy drive. Findings reveal that amid increasing sectoral emission of GHGs, the coun-try has made institutional response to climate change mitigation, particularly with the establishment of the Department of Climate Change in the Federal Ministry of Environ-ment. The country has also made significant policy responses toward climate change mit-igation through domestication of arrays of international agreements. However, the paper argues that the nation's rapid population growth and increasing food insecurity will inten-sify agricultural activities and consequently exacerbate GHGs emissions. Similarly, growing dependence on fossil energy coupled with poor development of the country's vast clean energy resources will continue to intensify emissions. The paper recommends overhaul-ing of extension services to bridge the gap between scientific innovations and farmers to promote climate-friendly agricultural practices while measures that reduce intra-city and inter-city travels and their related CO2 emission should be adopted. The study also advo-cates enforcement of compliance to restriction on the years of imported pre-used vehicles within Nigerian roads and prioritization of development of the country's vast clean energy resources in line with increasing global navigation from fossil energy. Overall, the paper provided insights into Nigeria's sectoral GHGs emissions, institutional and policy responses toward their reduction which are relevant to policymakers and other stakeholders in iden-tifying gains and areas of intervention toward strengthening the country and other emerg-ing African economies as part of the global search for workable climate change mitigation alternatives pursuant to SDG 13 (Climate Action) and Goal 7 (Environmentally Sustainable and Climate Resilient Economies and Communities) of the African Union's Agenda 2063. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of African Institute of Mathematical Sciences / Next Einstein Initiative. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )