Mureni Sanni Alakija took out a loan to build a new house after his old house was swept away by an ocean surge in 2011. But as the tide reaches Okun Alfa, a neighborhood in Lagos, the commercial hub of Nigeria, that is also no longer secure.
As a result of experts’ prediction that sea levels will rise due to climate change, hundreds of other homeowners have watched helplessly as tidal waves consume their homes. This week, government representatives will gather in Rwanda for the Commonwealth of Nations summit to discuss the situation of residents and other issues.
A United Nations climate panel stated in February that although Africa has made very little contribution to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, its citizens are among the most vulnerable to the effects of the planet’s warming.
With the desert encroaching on its northern pastures, rainfall is eroding farmland in its eastern Niger Delta, and the Atlantic Ocean flooding its southern coast, Africa’s most populous country, which stretches from the southern edge of the Sahara to the Gulf of Guinea, is at risk of a triple attack from climate change.
According to the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency, more than 20 million people are at risk of flooding in Bayelsa, Delta, and Lagos, which is spread out over creeks and lagoons and perilously close to sea level.
Mureni’s family moved to a safer area of Lagos a decade ago, but he is still reluctant to leave his ancestral home. But the ocean keeps swallowing more land, and he says it may be a matter of time before he loses this home too. “We are so terrified that we don’t sleep with two eyes closed. We are out here watching at two in the morning and three in the morning. Nobody knows when the surge may strike and take someone with it “explained Mureni.
Leaders adopted an action plan to safeguard seas from the dangers of climate change, among other issues, at the most recent Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2018.
A new fund to aid communities like Okun Alfa in coping with climate change will also be unveiled, according to Jeff Ardron, a Commonwealth secretariat expert on ocean governance, who said the summit would assess progress made since 2018.
“These communities may count on assistance with developing environmentally friendly defenses against the water. At CHOGM, addressing the ocean and climate change is a top focus, “In Kigali, he spoke to reporters.
Some of the homes in Okun Alfa are so battered by the tides that they can hardly stand. Others have been totally absorbed by the water.
Aliba Mohammed, a local, lost his property and moved to what he believed was a safe distance from the coast, but water has followed him to his doorstep.
