Nigeria

Area:

924 000 km2

 

Population:

170 million

 

Climate:

The climate of the Nigeria generally varies from very wet coastal area, with annual rainfall greater than 3500 mm, to the Sahel region in the northwest and north-eastern parts with annual rainfall less than 600 mm. The country generally has two seasons namely, the wet and the dry seasons. The climate is characterized by double rainfall maxima in the south, with the first maximum in June and the second maximum in September. The mean temperature for the country is 27oC. Average maximum temperatures vary from 32oC along the coast to 41oC in the far north, while mean minimum figures range from 21oC in the coast to under 13oC in the north.

Natural Resources:

The contribution of the major socio-economic sectors to the GDP is as follows: Agriculture 38%, industrial sector 20.2%, petroleum 13% and the services sector at 41.75%. Nigeria’s GDP growth rate is about 2.7%, down from over 7% in the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. Agricultural growth averages 2.5%, industries 2.9%, and the service sector 2.4%. In the recent past, petroleum has dominated the economy in terms of the foreign exchange earner.

Agriculture:

More than 90% of agricultural production comes from rural-based small-scale farmers. While root crops dominate in the south, grains prevail in the north where also the main livestock population exists. Mixed cropping on fields which rarely exceed 2 ha is characteristic of agriculture in Nigeria. Cereals (notably millet and sorghum), groundnuts and beans dominate crop production in the northern part of the country, while the dominant crops in the south are cassava, yam, palm produce, cocoa and rubber.  

Climate Vulnerabilities:

Like in most regions in West Africa, it is widely assumed that over the past decade, temperatures have generally increased by 0.2 to 0.3 degree centigrade. Recent studies have also revealed declining trends in rainfall. The population is thus susceptible to effects of seal level rise, extreme floods especially in the lowland areas.

Source:

http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/nignc1.pdf

Terminologies:

http://www.africanclimate.net/en/glossary-climate-related-terminologies