By Faridat Salifu
Women, girls and climate-vulnerable communities are facing growing economic and social pressures as environmental degradation, extreme weather and limited climate financing threaten livelihoods across Nigeria, ActionAid Nigeria has warned.
The organisation said the impacts are particularly severe for people whose livelihoods depend directly on land, water and other natural resources, with women and young people among those facing heightened risks.
The warning followed the release of ActionAid’s international flagship report, Debt Fuels the Climate Crisis: How the Finance Flows, which examines the relationship between debt and climate finance in vulnerable countries.
ActionAid Nigeria said the global findings have implications for Nigeria, where climate pressures are being compounded by constraints on public finances.
The organisation highlighted the experience of Finegirl, a 59-year-old farmer, mother and grandmother from the Niger Delta, who described how oil pollution has contaminated rivers, damaged farmland and fishing activities, and degraded the environment supporting local communities.
ActionAid said such environmental pressures, combined with increasingly severe weather events, are contributing to lost livelihoods, higher food costs and deeper poverty among affected households.
The organisation also raised concerns about Nigeria’s limited access to electricity, noting that nearly 40 per cent of the population remains without electricity despite the country being Africa’s largest fossil fuel producer.
According to ActionAid, the financing gap could make it more difficult for Nigeria to invest in areas that directly affect vulnerable communities, including flood protection, resilient agriculture, healthcare, education and renewable energy.
Its report found that the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries spend 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 also said the Global South pays about 225 times more in debt repayments than it receives in grant-based climate finance, while climate finance provided through loans can further increase the debt burden of developing countries.
The organisation called for increased domestic financing for climate adaptation and resilience, including sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, flood prevention and locally led initiatives.
It also urged the Federal Government to ensure that climate budgets respond to the needs of women, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups, while creating more opportunities for women- and youth-led enterprises in renewable energy, agroecology, recycling and sustainable agriculture.
ActionAid further called for transparent management and public tracking of climate finance, with affected communities, women and young people given meaningful opportunities to participate in decisions over climate resources.
ActionAid Nigeria Country Director, Dr Andrew Mamedu, said climate justice should prioritise people experiencing the effects of environmental and economic pressures.
“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.
He said countries should not have to borrow their way out of a climate crisis.
“It is time to end unsustainable debt, deliver climate justice and fund our future,” he said.
