Climate justice framework: Making homegrown strategies count

Nigeria’s climate justice framework is torn between global environmental commitments and the nation’s economic realities. While Western-driven policies push for rapid emissions cuts, local challenges demand a more pragmatic, adaptive approach, AMEH OCHOJILA reports.

Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it is an unfolding crisis that Nigeria and other African countries must confront. Yearly, its effects grow more severe, from extreme weather patterns to devastating floods and desertification. Yet, in the face of these challenges, a fundamental contradiction persists: the Western world, which has historically contributed the most to greenhouse gas emissions, now dictates the terms of environmental responsibility for developing nations.

Not long ago, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMET) issued a grim warning for 2025, predicting that eight northern states would experience delayed rainfall while at least 13 others will see an early onset of the rains. This shift in weather patterns is expected to bring high-intensity rainfall between May and June, increasing the risk of flash floods in coastal cities. 

NiMET has repeatedly urged state governments to relocate people living in flood-prone areas to safer locations, but a combination of governance realities and poor political leadership has made this difficult. Political inaction, weak enforcement, and socio-economic constraints mean that most affected communities remain where they are, vulnerable to the next disaster.

Climate scientists warn that by 2050, up to a billion people worldwide could become climate refugees, with Nigeria among the hardest-hit countries. The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mohamed Malick Fall, has described this crisis as a moral failure, emphasising that future generations will suffer for decisions that they did not make.   

Speaking at the Regional Africa Human Rights Academic Network Conference in Abuja, Fall highlighted the severe injustice of climate change, pointing out that while Sub-Saharan Africa contributes minimally to global emissions, it faces the harshest consequences—land degradation, food insecurity, water scarcity, and displacement.

“This is more than an environmental injustice—it is a deep betrayal of future generations. Children born today will inherit a world damaged by decisions made elsewhere. The crisis they will face is not their making, yet they will bear its full cost,” Fall declared.

The hypocrisy of the global climate agenda is hard to ignore. For over a century, industrialised nations built their economies on fossil fuels, driving global emissions unchecked. Today, these same countries impose strict environmental policies on developing nations, demanding carbon reductions and green energy transitions while continuing to operate high-emission industries themselves. Many have simply relocated their dirtiest industries to developing countries, shifting the pollution burden while maintaining economic dominance.

Nigeria’s climate justice framework, according to industry observers, is largely shaped by international agreements such as the Paris Climate Accord, which mirrors Western models but lacks adaptation to local realities. While regulations exist on paper, enforcement remains weak due to corruption, inadequate funding, and infrastructural deficits.   

They argued that, unlike Western nations where strong institutions uphold climate policies, Nigeria struggles with even basic regulatory compliance. A legal framework detached from these governance challenges will remain ineffective.

The global climate financing system further exposes the imbalance in climate justice. While African nations receive climate aid, these funds often come with conditions that serve Western interests rather than local needs. 

Developed countries continue their high-emission activities while offering developing nations climate loans that do little to address the root of the crisis. The biggest polluters now dictate the terms of environmental responsibility, ensuring that while they maintain their economic edge, Africa remains dependent.

Over the past two decades, nations have increasingly enacted climate change laws, driven by international pressure and the growing recognition that domestic policies are crucial. These legal frameworks grant governments the power to take climate action, but they also shape climate litigation and enforcement.

Nigeria’s 2021 Climate Change Act, the first comprehensive climate law in West Africa, builds on previous policies like the Revised National Climate Change Policy and the 2050 Low Emission Vision.

According to reports, Nigeria’s greenhouse gas emissions stood at 126.9 million tonnes in 2020, with the energy sector responsible for 60 per cent of this output. The country’s per capita emissions in 2017 were only 3.37 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent—far below the global average of 7 tonnes. By 2030, total emissions are projected to rise to 435 million tonnes, a 31 per cent increase from 2018. 

Yet, under international pressure, Nigeria has pledged to cut emissions by 20 per cent unconditionally and by 47 per cent with international support. The Climate Action Tracker rates these commitments as “almost sufficient,” highlighting the unrealistic expectations placed on a nation that is still struggling with power supply, industrial development, and economic instability.

The Climate Change Act sets a net-zero target between 2050 and 2070, requiring the Ministry of Environment to establish a carbon budget aligned with global temperature goals. It mandates the creation of a National Climate Change Action Plan every five years to guide emissions reduction and adaptation efforts. The law also establishes the Secretariat of the National Council on Climate Change, which serves as the administrative, scientific, and technical arm of climate governance in Nigeria.

This Secretariat is responsible for monitoring, verifying, and reporting on Nigeria’s emissions profile, carbon budget, and policy implementation. It drafts and reviews climate regulations collects and disseminates climate data, and ensures compliance from both government agencies and private entities. 

The Secretariat also collaborates with the Ministry of Environment to meet Nigeria’s international climate obligations and advises the National Council on Climate Change, which is chaired by the President.

A key provision of the Act requires the Federal Ministry of Environment, in consultation with the Ministry of National Planning, to set and revise the country’s carbon budget in alignment with global temperature targets. The budget must be approved by the Federal Executive Council within a year of the Act’s enactment and updated at the end of each cycle.

If revisions are necessary mid-cycle, they must be submitted within three months for approval. The Ministry is also required to publish climate risk assessments and issue guidelines for emissions measurement and verification.

The law promotes nature-based solutions to greenhouse gas reduction, requiring the Federal Ministry of Environment to establish a registry for REDD+ activities. This includes maintaining Nigeria’s Forest Reference Emissions Level (FREL) and implementing sustainable forestry practices to combat deforestation.

The National Council on Climate Change is responsible for overseeing these climate policies, managing a Climate Change Fund, and mobilizing financial resources. The Fund supports key climate initiatives, including nature-based solutions, emissions reduction strategies, and adaptation programmes.

However, given Nigeria’s history of mismanaging public funds, questions remain about whether this money will be effectively allocated or whether it will become another avenue for corruption.

Legislative oversight is built into the Act, requiring yearly reporting to the National Assembly and collaboration with civil society organisations. Ministries and agencies must appoint climate desk officers to enforce compliance, while the Council has the authority to impose climate-related obligations on public and private entities.

For Nigerians, the challenge is not just in passing climate laws but in ensuring that they are realistic and enforceable. A lawyer, Monday Ikpe said copying Western policies without properly adjusting them to Nigeria’s governance and economic realities will only create regulations that exist on paper but fail in practice. 

He stressed that climate justice must mean more than compliance with international expectations; it must empower Nigeria to develop sustainably while addressing the pressing environmental challenges it faces.

The lawyer cautioned that Nigeria must navigate its climate commitments with a strategy that balances environmental responsibility with economic growth, aligned with cultural reality.  

The real path forward is not blind compliance with Western dictates, Ikpe insists, but a strategic approach that allows Nigeria to achieve both climate resilience and economic independence. If global climate policy continues to operate on a system of double standards, where the richest nations dictate the rules while continuing their polluting activities, Ikpe warned, then climate justice will remain an illusion—one that keeps Africa at a permanent disadvantage while the West retains control.

For environmentalists, the transition to green energy could be gradual and pragmatic, ensuring that industries are not stifled by unrealistic regulations, while climate finance must prioritise national interests by ensuring that funds are directed towards infrastructure, energy diversification, and sustainable agriculture, rather than being tied to foreign-imposed conditions.

However, the broader question remains: Is Nigeria’s climate justice framework a genuine effort to protect the environment, or is it another tool for international control? If climate action is truly about fairness, it cannot be dictated by those who have already had their turn at industrial development.

Climate justice must be about giving Nigeria and other African nations the space to grow, not forcing them into economic stagnation under the guise of environmental responsibility.

The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Anthony Ojukwu (SAN) explained that the Commission has established a Climate Change Unit to reflect a homegrown policy approach to integrating human rights with climate action. 

By prioritising advocacy, research, and capacity-building, and using a human rights approach, he said it would align with Nigeria’s unique challenges while fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing. “This localised response strengthens national ownership of climate policies, ensuring that they address both environmental and socio-economic impacts in line with Africa’s broader sustainable development goals,” he explained. 

The Director-General of the National Council on Climate Change, Dr Nkiruka Madueke, argued that while there are multiple environmental laws, the Act is the first in the country’s legal history to provide a structured framework for addressing climate-related injustices.

“We now have a legal foundation for climate justice,” Dr Madueke stated, adding that the challenge now is enforcement.