When floodwaters engulfed large parts of Bayelsa, Kogi, and Jigawa in 2022, families carried their children to higher ground while watching their farms, shops, and homes disappear beneath the brown water. More than four million Nigerians were affected across 34 states, according to UN agencies, with women and children bearing the brunt.
However, while villagers counted their losses, international lenders and donors counted their disbursements. Billions of naira had already been pledged to prevent such disasters, yet only a small portion of it reached the communities most at risk.
Now, as Nigeria faces another cycle of climate shocks, from devastating floods in the South to prolonged droughts in the North, experts are sounding the alarm: the country is receiving more climate finance than ever before, but without public tracking, those funds may not protect Nigerians from the next catastrophe.
A River of Money, but Where Does It Flow?
According to the State of Climate Financing in Nigeria report, between 2019 and 2022 the country received over $3.5 billion in climate-related commitments, a mix of grants and loans from international partners.
Notably, nearly 70% of this finance came in the form of debt, further compounding Nigeria’s already precarious fiscal burden.
“The tragedy is that much of this finance is not structured to reach the frontline communities most vulnerable to floods and drought,” the report notes.
Instead, funds are often locked into complex bureaucracies, poorly monitored projects, or channelled toward mitigation projects in urban centres, while rural Nigerians continue to suffer.
During a Twitter Space hosted by Connected Development (CODE), Dr. Austin Okere, who anchored the discussion, put it plainly: “We cannot wait until another flood devastates communities before asking: where did the climate money go?”
Why Tracking Climate Finance Matters
Tracking climate finance is not just about transparency; it is about survival and the need to prioritise the essence of humanity and the value of human life.
Alice Adebayo Ige, a research analyst with BudgIT Foundation, explained that Nigeria adopted a budget coding system in 2014 to tag climate-related projects. However, implementation has been uneven, particularly at the state level.
“That makes it difficult for citizens to follow the money. At BudgIT, we use civic tech and data visualisation to simplify this information so people can demand accountability,” she said.
The urgency is underscored by the report’s finding that less than 40% of tracked climate finance projects had any form of public reporting.
Many remain shrouded in technical language and buried in government portals the average Nigerian cannot access.
Faith, Media, and Citizens as First Responders
For Dr. Pius Oko, Regional Programme Manager at GreenFaith Africa, the issue is not abstract; rather, it is in our faces and must be tackled.
“Victims of floods first run to churches or mosques. If faith leaders are first responders, their voices must count in shaping climate finance,” he said.
He added that “any finance that prioritises profits over people is an injustice.”
The media also play a role in bridging the information gap to inform Nigerians of the intricacies of climate finance and its usage.
Nicholas Adeniyi, Project Officer at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), noted that Nigerian journalism has historically treated climate as an environmental beat, rather than connecting it to food prices, conflict, or infrastructure collapse.
“We’ve trained more than 300 journalists, but the ecosystem still needs resources to investigate how climate funds are spent,” he said.
The Cost of Inaction
Nigeria’s Climate Change Act of 2021 mandates a five-year carbon budget and a National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) to oversee climate action. However, the report indicates that institutional bottlenecks have hindered progress.
Only a handful of ministries have integrated climate financing into their budget frameworks, and state governments, often the frontline actors in flood and drought response, are barely engaged.
CODE’s Chief Executive, Hamzat Lawal, warned that this institutional inertia could prove disastrous.
“Our research shows where the financial holes are. Nigerians must leverage this data to demand accountability before we face another catastrophe,” he said.
The report echoes this concern, estimating that climate change could reduce Nigeria's GDP by up to 11% by 2050 if adaptation financing continues to bypass vulnerable communities. That would translate into higher food insecurity, more displacement, and deeper poverty.
Making Climate Finance Relatable
But how do you convince citizens already crushed by inflation, unemployment, and insecurity to track something as technical as climate finance?
Akintunde Babatunde, CJID’s Executive Director, argues the key is relevance.
“Citizens must see the link between climate finance and their everyday lives. When farmers can’t predict rainfall, when floods destroy bridges and cause fuel scarcity, that’s climate change. If the funds for flood defences are mismanaged, it’s their right to ask questions,” he said.
This echoes one participant’s comment during the Twitter Space: “If we don’t follow the climate money today, tomorrow we may be the ones running to the mosque rooftop during a flood.”
A Call to Action
The State of Climate Financing in Nigeria recommends creating an open-access Climate Finance Transparency Portal, mandating all ministries and state governments to publish project-level data.
It also calls for stronger citizen engagement, capacity building for journalists, and partnerships with community leaders to make the information accessible.
For now, experts agree that the most urgent step is to treat climate finance as our money, not theirs. Whether it is a $100 million loan for renewable energy or a ₦5 billion state allocation for flood defences, citizens have both the right and responsibility to demand answers.
As floods loom once again over the Niger and Benue rivers, the real question is not whether climate finance exists, but whether Nigerians are watching where it flows.
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