The Presidency has unveiled the North West Climate Fund, which targets around 20 billion naira over the next four years to finance the region's response to climate challenges. Abdullahi Yakasai, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement for the North West, announced the initiative at the North West Climate Summit held on Tuesday at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja. The fund will channel money to tackle flooding, drought, migration and the transition to renewable energy across the region.
The fund forms part of a three-pillar strategy unveiled at the summit, which also includes a climate academy and a climate investment marketplace. The fund will mobilise grants, impact capital and carbon finance for climate resilience and women-led green enterprises, according to the summit materials. The marketplace will allow states and local governments to list climate programmes for development partners and financial institutions to fund. The academy aims to train 10,000 youths in the region and will admit its first students within nine months, said Dr Mea Boykins, the lead consultant for the North West Climate Academy. She noted that several international partners are involved, including the Georgia House of Representatives, the Lagos Business School, and the BBC, which will provide data for students.
Yakasai said the initiative reflects global focus on climate financing, which gained prominence after COVID-19. He explained that the fund's outcomes would inform Nigeria's engagement at the coming United Nations climate summit in Turkey. The marketplace already contains projects ready for investment from funders in the United Kingdom, the United States and across Africa, Boykins said. Kama Nkemkanma, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Climate Change, who represented Speaker Tajudeen Abbas, stressed that climate change is no longer merely an environmental issue but a development problem affecting food security, water resources and community stability.
The North West faces significant climate threats. The 2026 Annual Flood Outlook, presented in April by the Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Joseph Utsev, identified 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory as at high risk from flooding, with 14,118 communities across 266 local government areas classified as high-risk. Of the seven North West states, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara were all listed as high-risk. Nkemkanma noted that irregular rainfall, prolonged dry spells, desertification, soil degradation and flooding are threatening livelihoods in the region, and that investing in prevention is cheaper than rebuilding after disasters.
For savers, borrowers and businesses in Nigeria's North West, the climate fund could channel investment into projects addressing environmental risks that currently threaten agricultural output, infrastructure and community stability in the region.