Paper short abstract:

Climate change to a great extent contribute indirectly to increased insecurity. Climate change has worsened insecurity as it individually and/or jointly impact the Nigeria economy. This paper examined the effect of climate change and insecurity on economic growth in Nigeria.

Paper long abstract:

Climate change has over the past few decades worsened globally; Nigeria inclusive. This is evidenced with significant rise in temperature, flood and drought incidences, among others. Previous literature has identified that climate change has an indirect effect on conflicts and insecurity. While climate change effects are gradual, its impacts are more widespread with detrimental socioeconomic and health consequences. In some areas in Nigeria, resource usage has led to inter-tribal conflict at border towns and farmers-herders conflict. In the absence of strong institutional capacity, this problem will escalate and may lead to total annihilation of a community. This study therefore examined the linkage between climate change and insecurity and its effect on Nigeria economy. Secondary data were sourced from the Councils of Foreign Relations, Mercy Corps, Climate Change Knowledge Portal (CCKP) of the World Bank, and the Central Bank of Nigeria. We discovered that some parts of the country have experienced resource conflict due to land and water resource dispute with the country generally experiencing increased trend of causalities due to armed conflicts in the form of diverse separatist agitators and this has impacted the economy negatively despite the government’s continued significant spending on both defence and internal security. Also, the level of insecurity has influenced the overall economy negatively with the agriculture and health sector mostly affected. We therefore, recommend that the Nigeria government proffer lasting solutions to the recurrence of armed conflict and resource dispute in the state by adopting sustainable conflict and resource management approaches.