427,000 Children Displaced In Nigeria Due To Climate Crisis in 2022 – Report

The Non-Governmental Organization Save the Children has unveiled a concerning statistic: in 2022, a staggering 427,000 children in Nigeria were forcibly displaced due to climate-induced disasters.

In a report released by the organization on Monday, it was revealed that the flooding incidents in various parts of Nigeria during 2022 led to the highest number of displacements in sub-Saharan Africa, affecting a devastating 2.4 million people.

Data sourced from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre paints a dire picture, with at least 1.85 million children in the region enduring displacement as a consequence of climate-related shocks by the end of the previous year. This marked a significant increase from the 1 million children affected by similar crises in 2021.

The report underscores the harsh reality that some of these children experienced multiple displacements, while others faced this hardship just once. Regardless, they all found themselves displaced from their homes at the year’s end, living in temporary arrangements such as camps or with extended families.

The report explicitly states, “Flooding in Borno state and across other parts of Nigeria resulted in the highest number of new internal displacements due to climate disasters in sub-Saharan Africa for 2022, totaling 2.4 million displacements. By year-end, a concerning 854,000 individuals, including an estimated 427,000 children, remained displaced as a result.”

The situation is not unique to Nigeria. In Somalia, five consecutive failed rainy seasons pushed approximately 6.6 million people, or 39% of the population, into critical levels of hunger and led to the second-highest number of internally displaced individuals, reaching 1.1 million people.

The numbers tell a stark story: the new internal displacements throughout sub-Saharan Africa in 2022 due to climate disasters were three times higher than the previous year, totaling a staggering 7.4 million, compared to 2.6 million in 2021.

Save the Children’s director, Vishna Shah, passionately called upon the international community to fulfill climate finance commitments, including adaptation and loss and damage funding, with a particular emphasis on addressing the unique needs of children.

Shah also expressed anticipation for children to share their experiences and concerns with leaders at the Africa Climate Summit held in Nairobi, Kenya, underlining the urgency of addressing this crisis on a global scale.