Nigeria’s climate, debt crises hitting women, children – ActionAid

ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) has raised the alarm over the growing impact of climate change and Nigeria’s debt burden on women, girls, children and other vulnerable communities, calling for urgent government action to address the twin crises.

The organisation made the call in Abuja in collaboration with the Euphrates Climate Foundation and other partners under the Renewed Women’s Voice and Leadership Project, funded by Global Affairs Canada.

The call followed the release of ActionAid’s international flagship report, “Debt Fuels the Climate Crisis: How the Finance Flows”, which examines the growing pressure that debt servicing is placing on climate-vulnerable countries.

According to the report, the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries are spending nearly 25 times more on debt repayments than on climate action, while 93.5 per cent are either in debt crisis or at significant risk of debt distress.

ActionAid Nigeria said the global findings had direct implications for Nigeria, where climate change, environmental degradation and economic pressures are increasingly threatening livelihoods and deepening vulnerabilities.

According to ActionAid, oil pollution has contaminated rivers in the region, undermined farming and fishing activities and damaged the environment on which local families depend, illustrating how environmental degradation and extreme weather events can contribute to loss of livelihoods, rising food costs and increased poverty.

The report further projects that Nigeria’s debt repayments will consume more than half of government revenue in 2026, noting that, despite Nigeria being Africa’s largest fossil fuel producer, nearly 40 per cent of the population still lacks access to electricity.

ActionAid questioned how the country could adequately finance flood protection, resilient agriculture, healthcare, education, renewable energy and support for communities affected by climate change when a significant proportion of public revenue is committed to debt repayment.

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The organisation said the burden of the climate and debt crises was not evenly distributed, with women and girls particularly vulnerable to climate disasters and cuts in public services. It said women were often forced to travel longer distances for water, reduce their food intake when resources became scarce, and shoulder increased unpaid care responsibilities, while girls faced a higher risk of dropping out of school when household incomes declined.

It also warned that children and young people were inheriting the consequences of decisions being made today through weakened education and healthcare systems, reduced economic opportunities and greater exposure to climate-related shocks.

Globally, ActionAid said countries in the Global South were paying about 225 times more in debt repayments than they received in grant-based climate finance and also expressed concern that much of the climate finance provided to developing countries came in the form of loans, potentially worsening the debt burden of countries already facing financial difficulties.

ActionAid Nigeria called for the cancellation and restructuring of unsustainable and unjust debt, increased grant-based climate finance and reforms to the global debt system.

It also urged the Federal Government to strengthen domestic financing for climate adaptation and resilience, including sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, flood prevention and locally led initiatives.

The organisation further demanded transparent public debt and climate audits involving women, young people and communities directly affected by climate change, as well as greater accountability in the management of climate funds.

It urged the government to ensure that debt servicing did not crowd out investments in healthcare, education, social protection and climate resilience, while making climate budgets gender-responsive and disability-inclusive.

Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu, said climate justice should ultimately focus on people whose livelihoods and futures were being threatened by the twin crises.

“Climate justice must ultimately be about people, the farmer struggling to grow food, the fisher whose livelihood is disappearing, the girl whose education is threatened, and the young person wondering what future they will inherit,” Mamedu said, adding that countries should not have to borrow their way out of a climate crisis.