Nigeria Faces Worsening Environmental Crisis as States Battle Floods, Erosion, Desertification and Pollution

By Aviashima Toom, Abuja 

Nigeria is facing a growing environmental crisis, with communities across the country increasingly exposed to flooding, gully erosion, desertification, deforestation, coastal erosion, oil pollution, waste pollution and land degradation.

The severity and nature of the environmental threats vary significantly from one ecological zone to another, according to government assessments and climate-risk mapping.

While states in the North are battling desertification, drought and declining vegetation, the South-East is experiencing severe gully erosion. In the Niger Delta, oil pollution is compounded by flooding and coastal erosion, while major urban centres such as Lagos, Kano and Ibadan face growing pressure from flooding, waste and rapid urbanisation.

Northern states face desertification threat

The environmental crisis is particularly severe across the northern belt, where Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara face varying degrees of desertification, drought and land degradation.

The problem has been linked to declining vegetation, water stress, drought and unsustainable land use.

The Federal Government's Great Green Wall programme remains one of the major interventions in the region, focusing on tree planting, shelterbelts, afforestation and restoration of degraded land. Other programmes, including ACReSAL, are supporting watershed and landscape restoration.

In Zamfara, however, mining-related land and water pollution has emerged as a major environmental concern, prompting government efforts to strengthen environmental monitoring and tackle illegal mining.

South-East battles devastating gully erosion

In the South-East, Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo are among the states most associated with severe gully erosion.

Thousands of gullies have affected farmland, roads, homes and other infrastructure, with heavy rainfall, poor drainage, land-use changes and soil characteristics contributing to the problem.

Government interventions have included projects under the NEWMAP and NEWMAP-EIB programmes, as well as state-funded erosion-control and drainage works.

Anambra, one of the states worst affected, has also strengthened environmental regulation through its Environmental Management, Protection and Administration Law.

In Imo, the Okigwe area remains a notable erosion hotspot, while Ebonyi and Enugu have also recorded significant erosion-control and watershed-restoration interventions.

Flooding threatens Niger-Benue communities

Flooding remains a major threat across the country's riverine and central regions.

Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Kebbi and Jigawa, among others, are particularly exposed to river flooding, while poor drainage, watershed degradation and increasingly intense rainfall can worsen the impact.

The 2022 flood assessment by the National Bureau of Statistics showed substantial household-level impacts in several states, including Bayelsa, Jigawa, Nasarawa and Kogi.

Government agencies have responded with flood forecasting, early-warning systems, emergency response and watershed-management programmes.

The Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NIHSA) has also expanded flood-risk monitoring across all 36 states.

Niger Delta caught between oil pollution and rising flood risks

The environmental challenges are particularly complex in the Niger Delta.

Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Ondo face a combination of oil pollution, flooding, coastal erosion and riverbank erosion. Communities in the region are also increasingly concerned about the long-term effects of sea-level rise and environmental degradation.

Oil-producing communities have experienced decades of environmental pressure associated with oil exploration and production.

The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA, is responsible for oil-spill detection, contingency planning and response, while federal and state authorities are also implementing shoreline protection, flood-control and ecological-restoration projects.

In Bayelsa, flooding and coastal erosion remain major threats. The state recorded the highest household flood impact in the 2022 NBS assessment, with 99 per cent of households affected according to the cited assessment.

The Federal Government has also identified communities in Delta State for ecological intervention.

Coastal states face growing erosion and flooding

Along Nigeria's coastline, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Ondo and Rivers face increasing pressure from coastal erosion, flooding and environmental degradation.

Coastal communities are vulnerable to shoreline retreat, storm surges, sea-level rise and the loss of wetlands and other natural buffers.

Government responses include coastal protection, drainage and flood-control projects, environmental monitoring and ecological restoration.

Southern forests under pressure

Deforestation and forest degradation remain major concerns in states such as Cross River, Edo and Taraba.

Cross River, home to some of Nigeria's most important forest ecosystems, has pursued forest conservation, restoration and climate-related initiatives, including REDD+ programmes.

Edo has also strengthened climate planning and forest-restoration efforts, while Taraba faces a combination of deforestation, land degradation and flooding.

Urban Nigeria struggles with waste and flooding

Nigeria's rapidly growing cities are facing another dimension of the environmental crisis.

Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kano and other urban centres are dealing with blocked drainage systems, inadequate waste management, flooding, erosion and rapid changes in land use.

In Lagos, the combination of low-lying coastal geography, intense rainfall, population growth and extensive urban development makes flooding a persistent challenge.

The state has responded with major drainage and flood-control projects, waste-management programmes, coastal protection measures and broader climate-resilience initiatives.

Kano, meanwhile, faces a combination of urban flooding and solid-waste pollution, prompting drainage improvements and waste-management interventions.

In Oyo State, environmental authorities have strengthened compliance monitoring and climate planning, including the state's long-term Climate Action Plan.

Government rolls out nationwide interventions

Despite the differences between states, several major federal programmes cut across Nigeria's environmental crisis.

The NEWMAP/NEWMAP-EIB programme focuses heavily on erosion control, watershed restoration and climate adaptation. The new NEWMAP-EIB project is being implemented across 23 states.

The ACReSAL programme focuses on landscape restoration, watershed management and climate resilience, particularly across northern and central Nigeria.

The Great Green Wall targets desertification through afforestation, tree planting, shelterbelts and land restoration across the northern states.

Meanwhile, NEMA and NIHSA play key roles in disaster response, flood forecasting and early-warning systems, while NOSDRA leads national oil-spill detection and response.

The Federal Ministry of Environment is also responsible for national policies covering erosion, flooding, coastal erosion and riverbank erosion.

Climate governance gaining ground

Nigeria's states are also increasingly developing their own climate and environmental policies.

A 2025 assessment found that 23 states had climate-related projects in their 2025 budgets, while Lagos and Katsina had implemented green bonds.

Some states, including Lagos and Katsina, have emerged as stronger performers in climate governance, although the level of preparedness varies considerably across the country.

Five major environmental crisis belts

Taken together, Nigeria's environmental challenges can broadly be divided into five major crisis belts.

The Northern Desertification Belt covers Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara, where drought, desertification, land degradation and water stress dominate.

The South-East Erosion Belt includes Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo, where gully erosion threatens settlements, farmland and infrastructure.

The Niger-Benue Flood Belt includes Benue, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Kebbi and Jigawa, where river flooding and watershed degradation are major concerns.

The Niger Delta and Coastal Crisis Belt covers Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta, Akwa Ibom and Ondo, where oil pollution intersects with flooding, coastal erosion and sea-level rise.

The Southern and Urban Flood-and-Waste Belt includes Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti, Kwara and other rapidly urbanising areas, where flooding, poor drainage, waste pollution and land-use change are increasingly intertwined.

A crisis that cuts across state boundaries

Nigeria's environmental problems may differ from one region to another, but their effects are increasingly interconnected.

Flooding can destroy infrastructure and farmland; erosion can displace communities; desertification can reduce agricultural productivity; deforestation can worsen flooding and biodiversity loss; while oil pollution can damage water, soil and livelihoods.

For policymakers, the challenge is therefore not simply to identify each state's "biggest environmental problem", but to understand how climate change, population growth, land-use change and environmental degradation interact.

The emerging picture is clear: Nigeria's environmental crisis is no longer confined to isolated locations. It is a nationwide challenge requiring coordinated federal, state and community-level action.