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Context
Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and diverse sub-Sahelian country, covering an area of 924,000 square kilometres. It borders the Gulf of Guinea to the south, the Republic of Benin to the west, Chad, and Cameroon in the east and Niger in the North. With a population of 211 million in July 2021, it is the most populous country in Africa and the seventh most populous country in the world. Nigeria is made up of 36 autonomous states and a Federal Capital Territory, with its capital in Abuja. Lagos is the largest city, as well as being the second largest in Africa, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Crude oil still accounts for more than 80 per cent of exports from Nigeria, as well as a third of banking sector credit and half of government revenues.
The Nigerian general elections that cut across all the states including the Federal Capital Territory, was held within the timeframe of February 25 to March 11, 2023. A new president was elected on 25th February, with the former president ineligible to run due to term limits. The general elections created a hurdle for humanitarian programme implementation. In several areas of the country, there was pre-election violence and demonstration activity, which raised serious concerns about how well programmes would be carried out. Prior to the general elections, the Central Bank of Nigeria redesigned the Nigerian currency and issued a policy on the withdrawal of the same by private and corporate organisations that places a limit on withdrawals. The old currency was swapped with the new ones on 10 February 2023. Limited amounts of the new cash were made available to the banks for dispensing. This affected business and economic activities and generated chaos in the country with demonstrations in many places. The implication of this on the Nigerian Red Cross emergency operations was huge as engaged Financial Service Providers (FSPs) could not afford enough cash to support Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) and other related activities.
There has been an alarming spike of diphtheria cases in Nigeria since early 2023, which intensified in March. The number of reported suspected cases grew from 136 in the first week of its discovery in 2023 to 253 by the fourth week. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) noted a new surge in the disease as of 2 March 2023, of which children between the ages of 5 and 18 were the most afflicted. From the early onset, the diphtheria outbreak has been at least 70% concentrated in Kano state, followed by other states including Yobe, Katsina, Sokoto, Enugu, Ogun, Osun, Kaduna, Lagos, and Zamfara. The Federal Capital Territory has now reported cases of diphtheria, and because of its sizable or diverse population, active economic activity, large, clustered communities, sheltered housing areas, and high population, it remains at risk of transmission. If appropriate measures are not taken, the disease’s spread or duplication could spiral quickly, threatening vulnerable communities.
The impact of climate change in Nigeria’s climate-dependent sectors are becoming a severe threat to the country’s socio-economic development. Various manifestations of its impact include food shortage, more public health risks, poverty and migration instigated somewhat by irregularities in rainfall and over flooding.
Nigeria is still in the phase of mitigating the impact of the 2022 Nigeria floods, which is believed to be the worst flood the country has experienced in at least a decade, with a widespread impact in 33 of the country’s 36 states. Floods which have receded in most states damaged homes and infrastructure, destroying farmland and displacing people from their communities. According to reports from October 2022, about 2.8 million individuals were impacted by the flood, at least 6,123 lives were lost and more than 2,500 people sustained injuries. An estimated two million people fled while others were evacuated from high-risk locations, ending up in extremely poor conditions with inadequate safeguards, exposing them to further security concerns.
The Nigerian Meteorological Agency’s forecast published in January 2023 stated that the country would witness an early onset of rainfall accompanied by flooding.