By Laide Akinboade

ABUJA – Minister of Environment, Hajiya Hadiza Mailafia, has challenged insurance companies in Nigeria to give climate change insurance top priority in their operations.

Hajiya Hadiza who gave the challenge at a workshop on Climate-based insurance in Nigeria noted that climate change is not just an environmental issue but an all encompassing threat to our sustainable development in Nigeria.

“Most current development strategies in the country tend to overlook climate change risks the cost of which is very uncertain,” she lamented

The Minister stated that “the insurance sector has found itself on the front lines of climate change and its response to the challenge has varied enormously; insurers, by definition are selective and cannot be expected to insure all risks.At a minimum, insurers can be messengers of climate risks through their pricing, terms and conditions and help society diversify the costs of losses.”

She therefore said reforming the scheme is very important and urgent for the development of the nation”.

Director general, Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), Dr. Anthony Anuforom, said ‘Climate Change projections indicate warmer climate and decreasing rainfall with more intense storms. Such rise in average long term maximum temperature can translate to about 25 percent increase in evaporation, severely impacting on agriculture and food security and medicare sectors.

Anuforo stated that if no adequate climate change adaptation is employed by year 2020, between two to 11 percent of Nigeria’s GDP could be lost.

Under the present arrangement, only less than one per cent farmers have access to insurance cover to protect them against the adverse effect of climate change.

Executive Director of ICEED, Mr. Ewah Eleri, said that with the incessant cases of flooding and extreme drought in some parts of the country, there is an urgent need to develop special insurance covers for the Nigerian farmers.

Some of the stakeholders represented at the forum included the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Ministry of Agriculture, Nigerian Metrological Agency, NIMET and National Insurance Commission, NAICOM.