Slow Response to Climate Change in Nigeria: Need for Urgent and Comprehensive Action

This paper discussed the state of climate change in Nigeria by considering critically the issues and challenges involved. Serious effort was made to present the reader with empirical evidence on the onset of climate change in Nigeria. Issues such as policy responses, together with challenges such as devastating floods and sea level rise in the coastal south, as well as, incessant droughts and desertification in the Sahelian north were examined. Accordingly, climate change impacts and existing responses to those impacts in Nigeria were thoroughly scrutinized. The implications of not making proper choices on climate change issues and challenges were highlighted. The paper concluded that although some effort has been made to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the country (such as the restriction placed on logging in the Cross River High Forest and nationwide afforestation schemes), such efforts are largely fragmentary and much remains to be done especially in the area of strategic planning and capacity building (for instance, dredging of inland rivers and lakes, construction of sea defenses, etc.) to mitigate climate change and adapt to potential and real-time impacts.