Report: 427,000 children displaced in Nigeria due to climate crisis in 2022

Save the Children, the charity organisation, says 427,000 children in Nigeria were displaced by climate-induced disasters in 2022.

According to a report released by the organisation on Monday, the 2022 flooding that occurred in different parts of Nigeria led to the highest number of displacements in sub-Saharan Africa – with 2.4 million victims.

The organisation said data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre showed that at least 1.85 million children in the region were left displaced by climate shocks at the end of last year, compared to one million children affected by similar crises in 2021.

“Some of these children were displaced multiple times, while others only once, but all remained displaced from home at the end of the year, living in camps, with extended family, or other temporary arrangements,” the report reads.

“Flooding in Borno state and across other parts of Nigeria led to the country having sub-Saharan Africa’s highest number of new internal displacements due to climate disasters in 2022, with 2.4 million displacements.

“By the end of the year at least 854,000 people remained displaced by these shocks, including an estimated 427,000 children.

“Meanwhile in Somalia, five failed rainy seasons forced about 6.6 million people – or 39% of the population-  into critical levels of hunger, and led to the second highest number of internally displacements at 1.1 million people.

“The number of new internal displacements throughout the year across sub-Saharan Africa in 2022 due to such disasters was also three times higher than the previous year, with 7.4 million new internal displacements in 2022 compared to 2.6 million in 2021.”

Vishna Shah, a director at Save the Children, asked the international community to deliver on climate finance commitments, “including adaptation and loss and damage funding, that factor in children’s unique needs”.

“I am looking forward to seeing children voice their experiences and concerns to leaders at the Africa Climate Summit this week,” Shah said.

The Africa Climate Summit is taking place in Nairobi, Kenya.