From the workshop to the negotiation floor, three people involved in Nigeria's climate diplomacy project share how the negotiations training is building confidence, strengthening expertise and preparing a new generation of climate leaders. With support from UK PACT, Nigerian negotiators are ready to make their voices heard at COP31 and beyond.
As COP31 opens this week in Antalya, Türkiye, delegates from around the world will spend two weeks negotiating the decisions, targets and financing that shape global climate action. Among them will be a group of Nigerian negotiators who have spent recent months preparing to use their influence to improve climate outcomes, following negotiations training supported by the UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerate Climate Transitions) programme.
Nigeria has achieved important policy milestones, including the Climate Change Act 2021 and a commitment to reach net zero by 2060. It’s well positioned to strengthen its influence and leadership in international climate negotiations, reflecting its economic and environmental importance.
To help address this challenge, UK PACT and our delivery partners Perspectives Climate Research (PCR) and Power Shift Africa (PSA) delivered a series of four in-person and online training workshops to 90 people, designed to strengthen Nigeria’s role in global climate diplomacy.
The participants have been equipped with the skills, tools and confidence to use at COP31. The training covered Climate Finance, Just Transition Work Programme (JTWP), Global Goal on Adaptation (GGA), and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, enhancing participants’ negotiation skills and diplomatic strategy through real-world negotiation simulations, aligned with Nigeria’s priorities under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
To support long-term impact beyond the training, the project also established the Nigeria Climate Negotiator Network (N-CNN) – a mentorship scheme linking experienced negotiators with emerging talent – and a Digital Resource Repository (DRR) to support institutional capacity for future engagement.
We spoke to three people involved in the project to hear their insights on the value of the training: Virtuous Igbodika, Associate Director of Africa at DAI, a non-governmental participant that received the training; Amos Wemanya, a climate expert who delivered the training; and Chukwuemeka Okebugwu, an assistant director with the National Council on Climate Change who has been involved in the project.
Virtuous Igbodika, who received the training, is the Associate Director of Africa at DAI |
Would the training change how Virtuous approaches climate negotiations and diplomacy in the coming years? For Virtuous, the first lesson was about frameworks: “I realised a lot of us didn't know what framework there was for engaging in global negotiations on climate until this training. So, it was important to understand that framework properly, so you know where and how to engage and contribute.”
Equally important was understanding where Nigeria sits within global climate diplomacy, including within the African Group of Negotiators (AGN). The contrast with her experience at last year’s COP was clear: “I also feel that the training gave a platform to contribute. Because when I was at COP last year, before the training, it was just a lot of moving pieces … you didn't have that framework to engage. But this training provided that.”
The training was also designed to give participants confidence when engaging in international climate talks. Virtuous confirmed that, because of the training, she felt “more equipped than last year” and “confident now to be able to contribute at text revisions.” She also described a sense that participants could “actually raise your hand and make a contribution without making a blunder”.
The training’s real-life exercises and scenarios helped participants visualise themselves in negotiation rooms, demystifying the systems, protocols and drafting processes that underpin international climate talks.
Looking beyond COP31, Virtuous described how the skills developed during the training can keep influencing climate policy and negotiations, and what success would look like. At the top of her list was an institutionalised climate diplomacy framework specific to Nigeria: “That systemic integration of all that we have learned to make sure that we constantly engage with stakeholders, that it is inclusive.”
Another crucial aspect would be leadership – perhaps with Nigeria leading the AGN. But the onus is on the government to put in the resources to ensure a framework and system that can “deliver on our national priorities while engaging with the global diplomatic community.”
Amos Wemanya, who delivered the training, is a climate advisor for the Office of the Climate Envoy in Kenya |
The capacity-building training was designed to address a critical gap in Nigeria’s ability to secure favourable outcomes. So what opportunities is Nigeria currently missing in climate negotiations? Amos highlighted climate finance as a critical driver: “We are suffering and communities are being devastated. There's need for support in terms of climate finance.”
He pointed to the Subsidiary Bodies meeting in Bonn (SB64) as an example: “Climate finance conversations were missing in the agenda.” Amos also highlighted thorough preparation as a potential barrier to Nigeria’s future negotiations. A better-prepared team, he said, can “fight for the inclusion, representation, for the interests of the country.”
As Nigerian negotiators take part in COP31, Amos described how the training has helped build capacity. The simulations and presentations gave a sense of what’s at stake and “what actually happens in the negotiation rooms, helping them develop positions.”
Ultimately, this led to a number of improvements, particularly on just transition, with Nigerian negotiators also contributing to the position of the AGN: “We saw Nigeria negotiators making interventions on the floor but also contributing to the positions that different blocks were taking, specifically AGN.”
What will be the long-term impact of the training beyond COP31? For Amos, the answer is mentorship: “Experienced mentors are able to engage with new entrants or emerging negotiators through a structured mentorship program.”
This builds capacity beyond the current delegation pool and allows mentees to take on leadership roles in negotiations “with the tools that are required for them to advance Nigeria's interest.” He also highlighted the importance of the digital repository in ensuring that learning continues beyond the life of the training.
Chukwuemeka Okebugwu is an assistant director at Nigeria’s National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) and lead negotiator for Nigeria under the UNFCCC |
From the Nigerian government’s side, Chukwuemeka said the programme is helping to close existing capacity gaps within Nigeria’s climate negotiation ecosystem: “This project has brought understanding to Nigerian negotiators, about what is being negotiated, our position and priorities in each of the covered and negotiated items.”
He was candid that developing national positions has not always been straightforward: “This training helped the negotiators to know how to come up with ideas and articulate them – to know what to put forward as regard to our priorities and our position.”
He also highlighted the simulation exercise: “That exposed the participants to real-life situations of negotiation, whereby we are categorised into the negotiating blocs and they experience the process of negotiation. So, it sharpened our negotiation skills as a country.”
Nigeria has already felt the cost of experienced negotiators retiring and taking their knowledge with them, Chukwuemeka explained: “One of our directors was African Group of Ministers chair and some were on the board. But when they retired, there was a huge gap in the process.”
The project’s mentorship component is designed to close that gap, he said: “This project has a mentor-mentee components in which we identified those that were experienced and those that are coming up … we have a network now that has been established.”
He added that the network will also capture what is learned: “there will be transfer of knowledge, mentor, mentorship, relationship. And there will be a component of documentation of information, ideas that have transpired and sustained each session”
Chukwuemeka also pointed to a digital repository that will bring together Nigeria’s priorities and positions: “From central sources, regional and national documents, and some of our national sectorial priorities.” He said these measures will build on the project’s gains.
Looking ahead to future UN climate talks and COPs, including COP32 in Addis Ababa, Chukwuemeka said he wants to see Nigeria’s influence, leadership and effectiveness grow. His answer pointed to the emerging talent the project has helped to identify: “it has helped to identify the expertise coming up. Hopefully, you are going to see them at COP31. It would be interesting to know that some of our staff now are contributing in some of the tests that we considered in negotiation.”
The broader shift, he said, is one of understanding: “The awareness of the importance of negotiation and its implication to our national development and also in addressing climate change has been heightened.”
And where does the biggest opportunity to increase Nigeria’s influence lie? Chukwuemeka pointed out: “We have a lot of resources which we are looking forward to harness towards achieving the climate change objectives, renewable resources, human resources, which will be useful in the UN process and also expertise that will help to advance climate change implementation.”
Laying the foundations for future climate leadership
The message from all three interviewees is clear: effective climate diplomacy depends on people, preparation and institutional strength. Through training, mentorship and knowledge sharing supported by UK PACT, Nigeria is building a stronger foundation for future climate influence and leadership.