By Abbas Nazil
Nigeria has been ranked second among 163 countries globally for children’s exposure to climate and environmental risks, a development that has prompted a fresh push to integrate climate education and green skills into the school curriculum.
The ranking was disclosed in the State of Green Education in Nigeria Report and Policy Brief launched in Abuja by the Institute for Greening Education in Nigeria, IGEN, in collaboration with the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC.
The report raised concerns over the growing threat of climate change to education, school infrastructure and the wellbeing of young learners, noting that education currently receives only about 1.5 per cent of global climate finance.
Speaking at the Technical Working Group Meeting on the Greening Schools and Climate Change Education Intervention, GSCCEI, where the report was unveiled, IGEN Executive Secretary, Unyime Robinson, said flooding, extreme heat, erosion, drought, desertification and other climate-related hazards were increasingly damaging school infrastructure, disrupting learning and threatening pupils and teachers.
Robinson said Nigeria’s education system must move beyond teaching climate change as a subject to embedding sustainability in school management, teaching methods, infrastructure and operations.
According to him, the report identified inadequate policy direction, weak institutional coordination, limited teacher capacity and insufficient climate financing as major obstacles to green education.
He called for the integration of education into Nigeria’s Nationally Determined Contributions, NDCs, to enable the sector to access domestic and international climate finance.
“We are advocating that we should be able to put education at the centre of the Nationally Determined Contributions so we can also see how we can drive some climate finance into education,” Robinson said.
He expressed concern that most climate finance is concentrated on infrastructure, with little going to green school programmes, teacher training and climate education, but commended the Federal Government for establishing the Greening Schools and Climate Change Education Intervention under UBEC, which includes tree planting and other environmental activities supported by a two per cent matching grant for states.
UBEC Executive Secretary, Aisha Garba, represented by Dr Lydia Gbagi, reaffirmed the commission’s commitment to transforming Nigerian schools into environmentally responsible, climate-resilient and sustainable learning environments.
Garba said the initiative aims to equip learners with values, competencies and practical skills to address environmental challenges.
She disclosed that 33 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, have benefited from state-level capacity development training delivered through State Universal Basic Education Boards, SUBEBs, covering climate change education, integration of sustainability into teaching, establishment of Climate Change and Green Champions Clubs, greening activities and monitoring.
She said UBEC has also developed implementation guidelines and materials including the GSCCEI Implementation Guidelines, the Handbook for Climate Change and Green Champions Clubs, and guidelines for Green Schools and Climate Change Interventions.
Garba added that the National Greening Schools Programme, NGSP, has been developed as a comprehensive framework with seven strategic pillars, producing state-level master trainers who will cascade training to local governments and schools.
She noted that the initiative aligns with the Federal Government’s education reform agenda, the Nigeria Education Sector Renewal Initiative, the Climate Change Act 2021, Nigeria’s NDCs and UNESCO’s Greening Education Partnership.
The report recommended a National Policy on Greening Education, a national coordination mechanism, green and climate-ready school standards, integration of climate and environmental literacy into curricula, continuous teacher professional development, strengthened green skills through technical and vocational education, a national monitoring and evaluation framework, a digital tracking portal, stronger school-community partnerships and a National Green Schools Index and Certification Scheme.
Both UBEC and IGEN stressed that greening education is not only about environmental protection but an economic strategy to prepare young Nigerians for jobs in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, waste management and green construction.
Robinson called for stronger collaboration among federal and state governments, education agencies, development partners, civil society and the private sector, and increased investment in teacher capacity, climate-smart infrastructure and green skills.
The organisations expressed optimism that the report would provide strategic direction for ongoing reforms and urged stakeholders to move beyond policy commitments to practical actions that will transform schools into centres of environmental learning, innovation and climate action.
