Health
Lagos ranked West Africa’s most climate-resilient city
By Olugbenga Ige
Lagos State has emerged as the most climate-resilient city in West Africa in the 2026 West Africa Climate Governance Index assessment.
The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Media and Publicity, Gboyega Akosile, stated this in a statement issued on Thursday.
The statement said the ranking follows a regional assessment that ranked it highest among 209 sub-national governments across the 15 member states of the Economic Community of West African States.
It added that the assessment was conducted by the France-based West Africa Climate Governance Index, which evaluated climate governance across the sub-region.
The statement said that Lagos scored 86.3 out of 100, earning a Grade “A” and finishing ahead of Kano, Abuja, Greater Accra, Praia, Dakar, Porto Novo, Abidjan Autonomous District, São Filipe and Bombali.
It added that the assessment measured climate-risk exposure, governance visibility, climate finance, transparency, public participation and implementation capacity.
“The ranking, according to WACGI, aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The research body added that its evaluation also fell within the scope and parameters of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 aspiration for a prosperous and climate-resilient Africa.
“With Lagos State emerging as the first in the 2026 Best Performing Sub-national Government in West Africa, the climate research body conferred its prestigious honour of “Grand Laureate of Climate Governance” on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for administering the most resilient climate governance structure,” the statement read.
In a letter dated July 8, 2026, addressed to the Lagos State Government, Director of Fondation Lucien Paye, Prof. Julie Peghini, congratulated the governor for implementing policies aimed at mitigating climate risks and strengthening climate adaptation.
She wrote, “In recognition of this achievement, we are pleased to confer upon Your Excellency and the Government of Lagos State the distinguished honour of the ‘Grand Laureate of Climate Governance’ for the 2026 best-performing sub-national government in West Africa.”
“The formal report and the raw results datasets are publicly available on the official French Government data repository,” she added.
The WACGI, a France-based climate policy and research initiative established by the Africa Foundation (Lucien Paye) at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, said its assessment was designed to promote evidence-based climate governance across ECOWAS member states.
According to Peghini, the publication reflects the organisation’s belief that transparent and evidence-based assessments can drive institutional improvement by recognising strong performers while providing recommendations for governments seeking to strengthen their climate governance systems.
The report also highlighted Nigeria’s broader climate governance framework, noting that the country has one of the region’s most comprehensive climate policy structures, including the Climate Change Act 2021, the National Council on Climate Change, the Nationally Determined Contributions 3.0, the Energy Transition Plan, a long-term net-zero strategy and expanding climate finance initiatives.
However, it noted that Nigeria continues to face significant climate challenges, including coastal flooding and erosion in the South, desertification and extreme heat in the North, river flooding in the Middle Belt, agricultural vulnerability, gas flaring and energy transition risks in the oil sector.
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