An unprecedented rain fell for two days in Lagos State between Friday, July 8 and Saturday, July 9, 2022. During the downpour, seven persons including three young siblings lost their lives to flood.
14-year-old Timi, an asthmatic, was trying to climb a plank linking their room to the uncompleted building of Mercy of Christ Apostolic Church when he slipped and was overpowered by the flood.
His older siblings – Michael, 18 and Elizabeth, 17 – in their attempts to rescue Timi, were also swept away by the flood.
During the condolence visit by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) delegation to the affected community, the community leaders equally informed them that another four siblings in the community were also swept away on the same day, but that the community members rallied round and rescued all of them.
During the same period, flooding was also recorded in other parts of Lagos State, Ogun State and Jigawa and left several persons dead and many others injured and/or rescued.
It would be recalled that torrential rains in the Niger Republic and the Republic of Benin reached red alert in October 2020 and caused flooding in Jigawa, Kebbi, Kwara, Sokoto, and Zamfara among many other states in Nigeria where 91,254 persons were affected with 15,209 households impacted, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.
These developments add more fuel to the 2021 report by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) report and ranking of Nigeria and Chad as the second high-risk countries where children are vulnerable and at risk of the impact of climate change.
Noteworthy, the report, Children Climate Risk Index, ranked Nigeria low due to children’s high exposure to air pollution and coastal floods. The Central Africa Republic (CAR) was ranked first among the 163 countries listed in the report.
The report noted that “young people living in Nigeria are among those most at risk of the impacts of climate change, threatening their health, education and protection.
“Approximately one billion children, nearly half of the world’s 2.2 billion children live in one of the 33 countries classified as ‘extremely high-risk’.
“These findings reflect the number of children impacted today, with figures likely to get worse as the impact of climate change accelerates.”
The report added that the general lack of external and internal funding for climate action characterises the West and Central Africa region alongside governance issues and low capacities to manage risks and disasters further undermining a child’s right to live in an environment safe from (climate-induced) disasters.
The report also advised that emissions should be reduced as children are more susceptible to toxic chemicals and temperature changes.
Some of the responses proposed to help mitigate these climate change risks include investment in social services, particularly child health, nutrition and education.
The report noted that these responses could help to reverse the trend, safeguard children’s future and provide better protection against climate change.
“Increase investment in climate adaptation and resilience in key services for children. To protect children, communities and the most vulnerable from the worst impacts of the already changing climate, critical services must be adapted, including water, sanitation and hygiene systems, and health and education services.
“Reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To avert the worst impacts of the climate crisis, comprehensive and urgent action is required. Countries must cut their emissions by at least 45% (compared to 2010 levels) by 2030 to keep warming to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Provide children with climate education and greens skills, critical for their adaptation to and preparation for the effects of climate change. Children and young people will face the devastating consequences of the climate crisis and water insecurity, yet they are the least responsible. We have a duty to all young people and future generations.
“Include young people in all national, regional and international climate negotiations and decisions, including at COP26. Children and young people must be included in all climate-related decision-making.
“Ensure the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is green, low-carbon and inclusive so that the capacity of future generations to address and respond to the climate crisis is not compromised,” the report read.
Some of these proposed solutions have been captured in the provisions of the Climate Change Bill assented to by President Muhammadu Buhari in late 2021 as a way of solidifying Nigeria’s commitments to the Paris agreement of 2015 and providing a legal framework for climate change interventions.
Climate Change.
About ten months down the line, Nigeria is still grappling to adequately implement some of the provisions of the Climate Change Act. Some experts, however, have praised the government’s establishment of the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) and the appointment of Dr Salisu Mohammed Dahiru as its Director-General and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in July 2022.
His appointment, some key players believe, will drive the implementation of the climate change act and the national climate change action plan, including the development of a carbon market framework and a national adaptation plan having successfully served as the national project coordinator for the World Bank-financed Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) oversees and coordinates the implementation of erosion control projects in the 23 NEWMAP participating states across Nigeria.
The NCCC headed by Dahiru will no doubt inherit and be saddled with the responsibility of addressing the many climate challenges facing the country including flooding, erosion, carbon emission, and deforestation among others just as the country prepares for another conference of parties.
In his view of the expectations of Nigeria going to another COP, an environmental journalist, Aliu Akoshile, noted that as Africa’s big brother, Nigeria bears a chunk of the continent’s climate impacts in many areas such as loss of biodiversity and fatal floods that ravaged farmlands and cities and the fact that it is also tellingly grim in the area of agriculture and the quest for food security in Nigeria.
Akoshile urged President Buhari to ensure the seamless harmonisation of the country’s environmental policies and actions, and the onboarding of all critical stakeholders in energy transition, climate financing, renewable energy, biodiversity, waste management, and the media while hoping that the creation of the NCCC will accelerate the country’s climate actions and convert the age-long motion into a fast-paced movement.
“Ahead of the COP27, Nigeria’s crucial tasks must include to set a robust agenda for, and coordinate Africa’s strategic response to the global climate debates, especially the blame game on culpability for GHG emissions, the tardiness in pegging the global warming at 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the dilemma over green and blue hydrogen options, and the resistance in redeeming the annual US$100 billion pledged to Africa to finance climate mitigation and adaptation, among others.
“The top industrialised nations who are known to be culpable for GHG pollution must be held accountable for climate change impacts being experienced in Africa today. Nigeria is duty-bound to lead the charge,” the stakeholder pointed out.
Speaking in a report by The Cable, UNICEF Nigeria representative, Peter Hawkins, said investment in water, healthcare and education would help to reduce the impact of climate change on children and protect their future.
Hawkins further said climate change remains a child’s rights crisis, adding that nothing has been done to address the issue.
Other stakeholders, just like Hawkins, are most definitely looking at how Nigeria addresses these climate issues before, during and after COP27 in other to ensure a safe space for the Nigerian child.
and then