According to the Federal Government, the financial value of direct economic damage caused by floods in Nigeria in 2022 is $7 billion.
The administration also announced on Tuesday that over 600 people died as a result of the calamity. It was described as the worst consequence of climate change in Nigeria.
Vice President Kashim Shettima made the announcement at a United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change event in Abuja. Ibrahim Hassan, his Deputy Chief of Staff, read his address.
He said, “We are all living witnesses to the ravaging floods of last year (2022), which held the country to a standstill for days. The World Bank’s Global Rapid post-disaster damage estimation assessment put the total direct economic damage to infrastructure to be about $7bn.
“This is equivalent to 1.6 per cent of Nigeria’s estimated 2021 Gross Domestic Product, not including the loss of over 600 lives. For Nigeria, that was climate change at its worst.” Shettima said climate change was the biggest challenge facing humanity today.
He said, “Even as a developing nation in the global south, Nigeria is gravely impacted by the negative effects of climate change. For instance, Nigeria is ranked as one of the 10 most vulnerable countries to the impacts of climate change in the world.
“This is despite our negligible contribution to overall global carbon emissions responsible for climate change. In fact, Africa as a whole, accounts for less than four per cent of total global carbon emissions.”
The Vice President said a lot of people from the North-Eastern part of Nigeria, including himself, bore the scars of climate change effects, and had to live with its impacts.
He outlined some of the impacts to include drought and desertification, disruption of rainfall patterns, leading to sandstorms, severe floods, destruction of farmlands, infrastructure and human settlements.
