By Faridat Salifu
Katsina State has topped Nigeria’s 2025 Sub-national Climate Governance Performance Rating and Ranking, emerging first in the third edition of the annual assessment that measures state-level action on climate change.
The report, launched Wednesday in Abuja by the Society for Planet and Prosperity (SPP) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment, places Abia State second, Kano third, Lagos fourth and Kwara fifth.
Minister of Environment, Balarabe Abbas Lawal, said the ranking underscores growing commitment by states to mainstream climate action, noting that the Federal Government under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda will continue to support states with technical assistance and capacity building.
“Let us use this Third Edition to transform competition into constructive learning, rankings into accountability, and commitments into tangible outcomes,” Lawal said.
Global Engagement Manager of the Under2 Coalition, Yusuf Hassan, said every state improved between the first and second editions of the ranking, describing Nigeria as one of the strongest voices in the 187-member coalition of sub-national governments.
Lagos is the newest Nigerian member after Rivers, Sokoto and Enugu, with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu recently invited to speak at the UN on sub-national climate leadership.
Presenting the methodology, SPP President, Prof. Chukwumerije Okereke, said the assessment was based on five pillars: climate institutions and governance; policy and action plans; project implementation and monitoring; budget and finance; and online visibility.
States submitted evidence of five major climate projects, with the best three scored. Submissions were independently verified for transparency and integrity.
For Katsina, Commissioner for Environment and Special Adviser on Climate Change, Prof. Muhammed Al-Amin, who received the award on behalf of Governor Dikko Umaru Radda, said the ranking validates the state’s approach of linking climate action directly to agriculture, livelihoods and security.
In his acceptance speech, Al-Amin said Katsina views climate change not merely as an environmental issue but as a development and security threat, given the impact of desertification, resource pressure and climate variability on farming and rural communities.
He argued that pressure on land, water and vegetation has intensified competition for natural resources, fuelling farmer-herder tensions and rural banditry in the North-West.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with NatureNews after the ceremony, Al-Amin was more emphatic:
“Almost all the problems in this country and in Africa are emanating from climate and environmental problems,” he said.
“The initial problem was climate vulnerability. So fix the climate and you are fixing Africa and Nigeria in particular.”
He explained that when desertification destroys pasture and water sources, pastoralists are forced to migrate southward, triggering conflicts that further destabilize rural economies.
Al-Amin also defended the credibility and independence of the ranking process, disclosing that Katsina’s attempt to secure a partnership with SPP ahead of the assessment was rejected.
According to him, the state had approached the organisation about seven months ago to partner on its ambitious 11 Million Trees project.
“Seven months ago, even before this ranking started, we approached the organisation because we wanted them to partner with us in the 11 Million Trees project. They said, ‘We will be grateful to do that, but we won’t be able to do it until after the ranking’,” he told NatureNews.
He said the decision demonstrated that states could not influence the outcome and that the assessment was objective.
Beyond the award, Al-Amin said Katsina is scaling up its climate response through the Katsina One-Person-One-Tree initiative, which targets planting two million trees in 2026 and 11 million trees by 2030.
He said the state is also exploring opportunities across climate-smart agriculture value chains, renewable energy and carbon markets.
These initiatives, he added, will be showcased at COP31, where Governor Radda is expected to participate in programmes at the Nigerian Pavilion and another international pavilion to attract partnerships and climate finance.
Organisers said the ranking is not intended as a beauty contest but as a tool to encourage peer learning and translate state climate policies, budgets and projects into measurable action at the community level.
With Katsina, Abia and Kano leading, the 2025 edition has placed renewed focus on the critical role of state governments in delivering Nigeria’s climate commitments.
