FG says Floods caused $7bn economic damage in 2022

The Federal Government saying the financial worth of direct economic damage in Nigeria caused by floods in 2022 is $7bn.

On Tuesday, the government also said over 600 lives were lost as a result of the disaster, describing the situation as the worst effect of climate change in Nigeria.

Vice President Kashim Shettima disclosed this at an event of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in Abuja in his speech which was read by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Ibrahim Hassan.

He explained that the World Bank’s Global Rapid post-disaster damage estimation assessment put the total direct economic damage to infrastructure to be about $7bn which he said is equivalent to 1.6 per cent of Nigeria’s estimated 2021 Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

He also explained that as a developing nation in the global south, Nigeria is gravely impacted by the negative effects of climate change as it is ranked one of the 10 countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change in the world.

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.