At risk of flooding are 372 out of the country’s 744 local government areas.
 
Climate disasters are happening at frightening rates in Nigeria, and the administration now says it will prioritize efforts to counter the effects of climate change.

By Leon Usigbe
ABUJA, Nigeria, Jan 2 2024 (IPS)

In 2022 alone, flooding killed at least 662 people, injured 3,174, displaced about 2.5 million, and destroyed 200,000 houses individuals.

As far back as 2012, the World Bank reported that erosion was affecting over 6,000 square kilometres of land in the country, with about 3,400 square kilometres highly exposed.

Back then, gully erosion was doing an estimated $100 million worth of damage each year, according to the team behind the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP).

Under the NEWMAP, the country began working with the World Bank to rehabilitate degraded lands and reduce erosion and climate vulnerability in 23 states. The project had four work streams:

• 1. Investing in erosion and watershed management infrastructure to reduce land degradation,

• 2. Developing information services to strengthen erosion and watershed monitoring and disaster risk management,

• 3. Strengthening Nigeria’s strategic framework for climate action to promote low carbon development, and

4. Supporting project management at federal and state levels with financial, social and environmental safeguards and oversight, outreach, and project monitoring and evaluation.

The outcomes reported in 2021 were positive: the project benefitted 35,000 people directly and more than 100,000 indirectly through small grants to community interest groups. The team trained 185,058 persons, 42 percent of them women.

On the first work stream, the project more than doubled the land under sustainable management, completed nearly five dozen participatory surface water management plans and reduced gully erosion considerably.

On the second, it made drafted environmental impact assessment guidelines and launched over a hundred automated hydrology and meteorology and flood early warning systems in the region.

The government is restoring lands in the northern states of Bauchi, Jigawa and Sokoto by planting thousands of tree seeds and seedlings.

On the third, the country issued green bonds to spark private investment in climate smart projects, such as distributing fuel-efficient cookstoves and developing solar-based electricity generators for rural health centers.

On the fourth, the team tested the use of remote sensing, geographic information system techniques, and 360-degree cameras and drones for remote supervision and grievance resolution.

Overall, NEWMAP showed Nigeria’s appetite for action and results.

Calls for accelerated action

Currently, about 178 local government areas (LGAs) in 32 of 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory fall within the highly probable flood risk areas, according to the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA). Another 224 of the country’s 744 LGAs fall within moderately probable flood risk areas, and 372 fall within probable flood risk areas.

Nigeria’s more than 830 kilometres of coastline are increasingly threatened by floods, erosion, water and air pollution. Communities in the Niger Delta states bordering the Atlantic Ocean have lost or fear losing their homes and farmlands due to the eroding bedrock shielding the shoreline.

Forests are disappearing because of desertification. According to Action Against Desertification, only half the forests that existed in 2007 remain in the area where it operates.

Suleiman Hussein Adamu, minister of water resources through May 2023, had warned that floods would take a high toll on life and livelihoods, agriculture, livestock, infrastructure and the environment.

The frequency of natural disasters in the country links to climate change, according to Alhaji Musa Zakari, director of human resource management at the National Emergency Management Agency, responsible for managing disasters in Nigeria.

“Nigeria may need to re-examine some fundamentally new and more efficient approach to disaster management,” Mr. Zakari said in an interview.

New approaches

In August, Nigeria’s National Defence College (NDC) presented the government with its research findings, “Building Climate Resilience for Enhanced National Security: Strategic Options for Nigeria by 2035.” It recommended adopting strategies to achieve the short-, medium- and long-term objectives in climate adaptation programmes.

Vice President Kashim Shettima said the current administration was prioritizing climate change interventions to address desertification, coastal erosion and flooding by collaborating with relevant individuals and institutions.

The government shares the “concerns for the security implications of underestimating the devastations of climate change,” he said, while receiving the NDC report.

Part of the government’s strategy is to inform the public of preventive measures that save lives and reduce damage to property and infrastructure.

In addition, through the Great Green Wall initiative, which aims to increase the size of arable land in the Sahel, the government is restoring lands in the northern states of Bauchi, Jigawa and Sokoto by planting thousands of tree seeds and seedlings.

Said Vice President Shettima, “It is heartening to witness the alignment between [research] findings and our government’s policy objectives, reinforcing our belief that a holistic and comprehensive approach is essential to tackling these challenges effectively.”

Source: Africa Renewal, a United Nations digital magazine that covers Africa’s economic, social and political developments.

IPS UN Bureau

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Senior Secondary School students in Abuja, Nigeria. Credit: Africa Renewal
 
The new initiative will help address school dropouts and suicidal tendencies among financially disadvantaged students

By Leon Usigbe
ABUJA, Nigeria, Aug 14 2023 (IPS)

Wisdom Ajah, an 18-year-old senior secondary school graduate living in Karshi, a satellite town in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, dreams of a university education that will secure him a good job after graduation and help support his family. But it is a distant dream considering how many obstacles he has faced trying to acquire a secondary school certificate.

Born into a poor family that can barely afford the necessities of life, Wisdom was forced to shoulder responsibilities far beyond his tender age, combining his studies with taking on manual labour at construction sites to pay his way through high school and supplement his family’s meagre income.

Now engaged in menial house painting jobs, a skill he acquired at the construction sites, saving enough money to fund his university education remains a significant hurdle.

But this may be about to change, as Nigeria’s federal government has recently passed a law establishing a student loan scheme aimed at providing financial assistance to individuals from poor backgrounds. Under the scheme, eligible applicants will receive up to N500,000 (approximately $650) per academic session.

Signed into law by President Bola Tinubu on 12 June, the Access to Tertiary Education Act, also known as the Student Loan Act, is expected to provide easy access to higher education for poor students through interest-free loans.

Government officials believe that the initiative will enable indigent students to access federal government loans to fund their university education, much like what happens in the United States and other developed countries.

The scheme ensures equal rights to eligible applicants to access the loan without discrimination based on gender, religion, tribe, social position, or disability.

“The student loan scheme is a boon to our youths, to our students nationwide,” said Dele Alake, the president’s spokesperson.

The government is confident that students facing financial hardships, including individuals like Wisdom, who meet the set criteria, will be able to access the loan and repay over a period of 20 years interest-free.

“A typical public university student can survive effectively on a tuition fee of N250,000 ($325) per session, and an all-in-one annual loan of N500,000 ($650) can take a student through each academic year,” affirmed Dr. Dasuki Arabi, the Director-General of the Bureau for Public Sector Reform.

“With what we have now, nobody should say it was a lack of money that did not allow them to go to school. The opportunity will be there. It will be inclusive, and it will be equitable,” said David Adejoh, Permanent Secretary in the federal Ministry of Education, in an interview with Africa Renewal.

The Nigerian Education Bank will supervise and co-manage the loan scheme starting September 2023.

The law stipulates two years imprisonment or a fine of N500,000 ($650) or both for students who default in repayment, or anyone found aiding defaulters.

Nigeria has up to 18 per cent annual school dropouts attributed to financial constraints.

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has welcomed the scheme as necessary to address the dropout challenge, as well as help combat suicidal tendencies and deter desperate poor students from engaging in vices.

“The rate at which students commit suicide due to depression when they drop out of school and the prevalent of vices among female students carried in order to pay their fees will decrease or cease because there will be no more financial pressure to warrant such acts,” said Akinteye Afeez, a spokesperson of the student association.

However, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), an organisation that represents Nigerian public university lecturers, has doubts about the practicability of the new scheme due to the country’s high rate of graduate unemployment

Nigeria’s Punch newspaper reports that approximately 40 per cent of those holding a Bachelor’s degree and 59 per cent of those with Higher National Diplomas are currently unemployed.

Also, the renowned global tax and audit services firm, KPMG, projects that Nigeria’s unemployment figure will rise to 40.6% in 2023, from 37.7% in 2022.

With the current economic conditions in Nigeria, a student loan scheme will create more problems than the ones it is attempting to solve, said Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, the President of ASUU.

“ASUU will never support the issue of education banks because the poor will not benefit from it,” he insisted.

The union maintains that the best solution to the problems of Nigerian universities is adequate funding.

Anticipating an increase in access to tertiary education, the government plans to put in place supportive structures and implement economic reforms that will absorb more graduates into the work force.

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations

IPS UN Bureau

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Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine in Abuja, Nigeria, on March 6, 2021. First batch of COVAX vaccines arrived in March, country aims to inoculate 70% of 200 million people by 2022. Credit: Africa Renewal

By Leon Usigbe
UNITED NATIONS, May 4 2021 (IPS)

Since the COVID-19 vaccination began in the US in mid-December 2020, Africa had been looking forward to its turn. For Nigeria, that time came on 2nd March 2021 when the first batch of 3.9 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the country from the Serum Institute of India.

The delivery is part of a first phase of arrivals in Nigeria that will continue in the coming days and weeks. It is part of the COVAX facility arrangement, which is spearheaded by GAVI and the World Health Organization (WHO), to ensure fair and equitable distribution to all countries. It marks a major step towards ensuring equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines globally.

In total, Nigeria is expecting 84 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. That should cover about 20 per cent of the country’s 200 million population. The AstraZeneca vaccine requires two doses per person.

Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, says that, from its arrangements with African Export-Import Bank (Afrexim Bank), about 80 to 85 million doses of vaccines are guaranteed for the country.

The government is also mobilizing the private sector to support vaccine procurement. Recently, telecom giant MTN delivered 300,000 doses and other big companies are expected to follow MTN’s example. To ensure quality of the vaccines, these companies are encouraged to route vaccine donations through Afrexim Bank.

Local pharmaceutical manufacturers may be able to produce a COVID-19 vaccine within a year, says Boss Mustapha, chairman of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the country’s pandemic response coordinating agency. As a result, the government is mobilizing financial and logistical support for them.

70% coverage of 200 million people by 2022

The goal is to have enough vaccines for 70 per cent of Nigeria’s 200 million people by 2022, adds Mustapha who is also the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Mustapha has sought to dismiss fears about Nigeria’s capacity to handle a vaccination campaign, pointing out the country’s long experience in handling mass vaccination programmes, especially with polio.

Women in Nigeria collect food vouchers as part of a programme to support families struggling under the COVID-19 lockdown. Credit: WFP/Damilola Onafuwa

Vaccine hesitancy, however, is strong among Nigerians according to a poll by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, which showed that only 50% of the population would like to be vaccinated.

Despite government’s repeated assurances, many citizens still believe that the vaccines have long-term side effects.

Fighting hesitancy

To dispel such feelings and to prove its safety, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had their vaccinations televised live.

“I have received my first jab and I wish to commend it to all eligible Nigerians to do the same so that we can be protected from the virus,’’ Buhari said, moments after getting his first dose.

Because of the country’s unreliable power supply and the major vaccines’ need for ultra-cold freezers, the AstraZeneca vaccine with its warmer temperature requirement appears to have a leg up on the competition.

“Everything we are expecting from the COVAX facility is going to be of the AstraZeneca variety Dr. Ehanire explained to Africa Renewal. It has a good range in terms of storage for us because it uses just plus 2° degrees centigrade to plus 8° degrees centigrade of refrigeration. It doesn’t come with a new complication.”

Even more critical is the capacity of the local administration to handle vaccination. Distribution to the various States in the country began 24 hours after the vaccines arrived in the country. Prior to the arrival, the central government predicated access to the vaccines, with States satisfactorily meeting the conditions to keep them safe and potent.

“We will not be sending vaccines to States that have not fulfilled all of the criteria that will ensure that they are going to be safe,” Dr. Faisal Shuaib, the Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, says.

The central government appointed vaccine accountability officers in the States and local government areas to closely monitor their management and utilization. These officers are also to ensure retrieval of vaccine vials for proper disposal.

The various States are not expected to release the vaccines to their local government area authorities unless they meet the minimum criteria for the successful conduct of the campaigns such as training, cold storage capabilities, availability of data-gathering tools and of transport and logistics for healthcare workers, adequate security for vaccines, among others.

Digital registration

Nigeria is currently registering people electronically for vaccination to ensure efficient and orderly scheduling of the date and time to receive the vaccine, Shuaib tells Africa Renewal. This is the first time Nigeria will pre-register people for vaccination.

All persons 18 years and above can register for the vaccination through an e-registration portal. The country relies on the media to promote this e-registration under an electronic immunization data management scheme.

The vaccination is then carried out in phases, according to predetermined classifications, Shuaib says. Frontline health workers are prioritized for the jab so they can safely care for others.

The primary health care agency uses its electronic database to track those who have received the first dose in order to know when they are due for their second dose.

“We input the date of the first dose and when they take the second. We have their names and addresses in the database,” Shuaib confirms to Africa Renewal.

Meanwhile, the rate of COVID-19 infections is alarming authorities. By the third week of March, the Nigerian CDC reported over 162,000 confirmed cases and about 2,000 deaths.

Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations

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