A recent workshop in Abuja trained Nigerian lawyers on the Climate Change Act and international climate negotiations, highlighting the growing importance of legal expertise in turning climate commitments into enforceable actions. While Nigeria's 2021 Climate Change Act established a strong legal framework, implementation gaps remain across ministries and states. As climate impacts intensify, courts worldwide are becoming arenas for holding governments and corporations accountable, and Nigeria is expected to follow this trend. The training aims to build a skilled legal community to support policy implementation, litigation, carbon markets, and negotiations, ensuring that Nigeria's climate ambitions move beyond aspirations.
"The quality of governance will determine whether we succeed or fail in tackling the climate emergency. But the judicial system may become our weak link.
We do not have strong lawyers representing Nigeria.
" - Ewah Eleri, ICEED. There was a time when climate change was considered the business of scientists, environmentalists and weather forecasters. Lawyers rarely featured in the conversation. But in today's world, where climate commitments are written into laws, budgets, contracts, regulations and international agreements, the lawyer has become as important as the scientist.
And, specifically in Nigeria, after Nigeria's Climate Change Act was signed into law in November 2021, the climate action dynamics have changed. Indeed, climate change is now a legal emergency. A fortnight ago, in Abuja, an unusual gathering took place. For five days, Nigerian lawyers sat together to deepen their understanding of the Climate Change Act and the intricate processes of international climate negotiations.
The pre-UNFCCC Subsidiary Bodies workshop was organized by the International Centre for Energy, Environment and Development in partnership with the African Climate Foundation and the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, bringing together lawyers, legal academics, climate policy experts, negotiators, government representatives, and development partners to strengthen legal expertise in climate governance and enhance Nigeria's effectiveness in international climate negotiations. It is the gradual emergence of a legal army that could determine whether Nigeria's climate ambitions remain mere aspirations or become reality.
With Nigeria's growing regional climate leadership, engagement in global climate governance and the implementation of the Climate Change Act, 2021; we need a highly skilled legal community capable of supporting climate policy implementation, climate litigation, regulatory development, carbon market governance, and international climate negotiations. Nigeria made history in 2021 when it enacted the Climate Change Act. It was a bold move, one that placed the country among the few African nations with a comprehensive legal framework for climate governance.
The law established the National Council on Climate Change, set pathways for emissions reduction, and created obligations for public institutions to mainstream climate action into governance. However, as every Nigerian knows, passing a law is often the easiest part. Implementation is where the real battle begins. The Climate Change Act is now approaching its fifth year.
Yet, many ministries, departments and agencies still struggle to integrate climate considerations into planning and budgeting. Many state governments have yet to fully domesticate climate governance structures. For many citizens, the law remains a distant document with little visible impact on daily life. This is precisely why the training programme for lawyers may prove more significant than many realise.
Climate change is increasingly becoming a matter of rights, obligations and accountability. Around the world, courts are emerging as powerful arenas where governments and corporations are being challenged to honour their climate commitments. From Europe to Latin America, judges are being asked to determine whether climate inaction violates constitutional rights, threatens future generations, or breaches international obligations. Nigeria is unlikely to remain outside this global trend.
Just the same way we are a major regional driver after access to safe, affordable and accessible water was recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in 2010 as a human right, imposing legal obligations on governments to provide for their citizens. As floods continue to devastate communities, as desertification advances across the northern landscape, and as extreme weather events place growing pressure on livelihoods, questions of accountability will inevitably arise. Citizens will seek answers. Communities will seek remedies.
Governments will require legal guidance. Investors will demand regulatory certainty. This is where climate lawyers come in. The Abuja workshop exposed participants to the legal architecture of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement, carbon markets, climate finance, adaptation frameworks and negotiation procedures.
More importantly, it introduced them to the reality that climate diplomacy is increasingly a legal exercise, where lawyers contribute through treaty interpretation, legal drafting, position paper development, analysis of negotiation texts, identification of legal implications of proposed decisions, and advisory support to negotiators. So they require knowledge of negotiation structures, contact groups, agenda items, drafting procedures, and consensus-building techniques commonly used within international climate negotiations
Climate Change Act Nigeria Legal Governance Climate Litigation International Negotiations
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