The Vice President of Nigeria, Kashim Shettima disclosed at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Abuja that the flood that hit Nigeria in 2022 cost the country’s infrastructure almost $7 billion in damages.
Shettima, who was represented by Deputy Chief of Staff Ibrahim Hassan, also highlighted the unfortunate deaths of 600 people caused by the same flood.
This incident highlights Nigeria’s vulnerability to the harmful consequences of climate change, which is acknowledged as one of the greatest concerns facing the world today.
Mr. Hassan declared, “We are all still here to see the devastation caused by the floods last year (2022), which paralyzed the country for days. Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation by the World Bank put the total direct economic damage to infrastructure at about $7bn.”
The Vice President also emphasized Nigeria’s important leadership in Africa and its critical contributions to the UNFCCC’s climate policy negotiating process.
Nigeria has always advocated for a just and equitable strategy to combating climate change ever since it became a Party to the UNFCCC in 1994.
He highlighted that Nigeria joined other countries in signing the Paris Climate Accord in 2015, but lamented the lack of progress in getting the $100 billion investment from wealthy nations, which are more responsible for the adverse effects of climate change.
34 of Nigeria’s 36 states were impacted by the flooding of 2022, which resulted in the destruction of homes, property, and agricultural land.
Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Edo, Lagos, Kano, Adamawa, Jigawa, Benue, and Borno are a few of the states that have experienced flooding.
In anticipation of the October harvest, the floods destroyed more than 569,000 hectares of agriculture, potentially escalating the already dire situation of food shortages.
According to the National Emergency Management Agency, the nation’s flood disaster in 2022 resulted in 662 fatalities, 3,174 injuries, and 2,430,445 displaced persons.
As they exacerbated economic difficulties in the afflicted areas and caused humanitarian catastrophes, the floods of 2022 were regarded as the worst in Nigeria’s history.
Affected areas are still battling with some villages being unreachable and cut off from goods and services.
