Climate’s crucible, labour’s burden: Navigating Nigeria’s dual crises by Remmy Nweke — WeekendSalvo@NaijaAgroNet

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As Nigeria’s climate turns hostile, the nation’s workforce faces an existential threat. From parched farms to flooded markets, Remmy Nweke explores the urgent need for a climate-resilient labour revolution.

Nigeria stands at a pivotal, yet perilous, crossroads. As the global thermostat rises, the nation is grappling with a convergence of existential threats: a rampant climate crisis and the systematic erosion of its labour force.

Beyond abstract environmental debate, the climate-labour nexus is reshaping the very dignity of work. For a nation where the soil provides for over 70% of the populace, this intersection is a daily battle for survival, transforming once-fertile fields into the frontline of a national emergency.

Earth as a hostile employer:
Agriculture, the bedrock of the Nigerian identity, is currently under siege. The "rainy season," once a predictable calendar for the Nigerian farmer, has become a erratic gamble. From the parched, cracked earth of the Sahelian north to the submerged deltaic plains of the south, the environment is effectively "firing" its workforce.

When erratic rainfall and desertification decimate livestock and yields, it is not just a loss of food, it is a mass layoff of the rural workforce. This "environmental unemployment" is the invisible driver of our urban crises. 

The young farmer who abandons his hoe for the uncertainty of a Lagos slum is a climate refugee, even if the policy papers refuse to call him one. He moves from the dignity of the earth to the desperation of the informal street economy.

Heat, humidity, and human limit:

In the urban centers, the labour burden shifts but does not soften. For the millions in Nigeria’s informal sector, artisans, street vendors, and transporters, the sky has become a threat. Rising temperatures are not just discomforts; they are productivity killers.

The biological limit of the Nigerian worker is being tested. Excessive heat leads to exhaustion, reduced cognitive function, and long-term health complications that are unmapped by our national insurance schemes. 

In the absence of a "Just Transition" framework, the informal worker bears the cost of climate change with their very body. When a flash flood submerges an artisanal workshop in Ajegunle or a market in Onitsha, there are no bailouts. There is only the deepening abyss of poverty.

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Health-labour deficit:
The environmental shift is also a biological one. As climate change expands the breeding grounds for vector-borne diseases, the "sick-day" is becoming a structural part of the Nigerian economy. 

Malaria and respiratory illnesses, exacerbated by dust storms and heat-trapped pollutants, are eroding the workforce from within. A nation cannot build a future on a labour force that is perpetually weakened by its surroundings.

Call for a just transition:
Addressing this dual crisis requires more than planting trees; it requires the protection of the worker. We must move beyond the rhetoric of "green energy" to the reality of 'green livelihoods.' This requires:

Agrarian Resilience: Institutionalizing climate-smart agriculture through drought-resistant seeds and decentralized irrigation to keep the rural workforce on the land.

Climate-Labour Policy Integration: National labour laws must begin to recognize heat stress and environmental displacement as occupational hazards.

Social Safety Nets for the Informal: Designing insurance and health schemes specifically for the artisans and vendors most vulnerable to climate shocks.

Green Skills Re-tooling: Preparing the next generation for roles in renewable energy and sustainable waste management as a viable alternative to climate-hit sectors.

Conclusion: The soil does not lie:
The soil of Nigeria does not lie. It is telling us that the current path is unsustainable. We cannot separate the health of our environment from the wealth of our workers. 

To ignore the intersection of climate and labour is to ignore the heartbeat of the nation. The "Dual Crises" demand a unified response; one that honors the labourer as much as it protects the land.