Dynamics of Climate Narratives in Nigeria: Insights into Local Perspectives on Climate Change
Tunani Insights Series | Tunani Initiative, 2026
Download PDFNigeria faces mounting climate impacts — flooding that has displaced over 1.2 million people, temperatures exceeding 40°C, and accelerating coastal erosion. Yet only 27% of Nigerians report having heard of climate change, the lowest figure across 28 countries surveyed by Afrobarometer.
Drawing on social listening analysis across Facebook, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube, alongside fact-check reviews and secondary survey data, this report maps how Nigerians discuss, search for, and respond to climate information online. This report explores the state of discourse on climate change by Nigerians, and frames that against the availability, quality and accessibility of climate science to Nigerians.
In June 2025, the Global Initiative for Climate Change Information Integrity, coordinated by UNESCO, launched its first call to organisations addressing key challenges related to climate information. Under Brazil's leadership COP30 recognised the vital role that information integrity plays to promote actions to fight climate change. This report is the outcome of initial research that was submitted to this call. We unpack the way Nigerians discuss climate change, and what insights those discussions reveal about the climate-related narratives Nigerians are concerned with, the information gaps that exist, and how mis- and disinformation shapes public perception, attitudes, and responses to climate change in Nigeria.
Key FindingsOnline search behaviour reveals persistent attempts to understand basic concepts of climate change, with top queries including "what is climate change" and "climate meaning" — indicating that awareness-building remains foundational.
Extreme weather events trigger simultaneous spikes in information-seeking and misinformation, including miscaptioned flood footage, AI-generated synthetic media, and viral content that outpaces official advisories.
Climate narratives in Nigeria are deeply shaped by local context: conversations consistently link environmental impacts to infrastructure failures, governance gaps, and economic inequality.
Institutional distrust and religious framing — including fatalistic interpretations of floods and droughts — create conditions in which mis- and disinformation can thrive.
Nigeria ranks as the 62nd most vulnerable and 20th least ready country globally to adapt to climate change, underscoring the urgency of both policy and communications action complementing sustained support of infrastructure and relief services.
The report concludes that effective climate action in Nigeria requires a parallel commitment to strengthening information integrity — ensuring that accurate, accessible, and locally relevant climate information reaches the communities most affected.
Produced by Tunani Initiative. Written by Alhassan Pereira Ibrahim. Reviewed by experts from the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD-West Africa) and the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development.
Tunani Insights Series | Tunani Initiative, 2026
