Government/Legislative Frameworks and International Protocols on Climate Change: Domestication, Institutional Governance, and Social Protection Implications in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Climate change has become a central governance and social development challenge in Nigeria, reshaping ecosystems, livelihoods, and welfare while intensifying food insecurity, displacement, and conflict. Although Nigeria is party to major international climate agreements, the effectiveness of these regimes depends on how they are domesticated and implemented through national laws, institutions, and budgets.
Objective: The paper examines how international climate protocols are translated—or fail to be translated—into enforceable obligations within Nigeria's dualist constitutional system, and how this governance chain affects social protection outcomes. It focuses on Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution, the Climate Change Act 2021, the National Council on Climate Change (NCCC), and the Directorate of Legislative Budget and Planning (DLBP) of the National Assembly.
Methodology: The study adopts a qualitative interpretive design, employing thematic synthesis of secondary sources within an ex post facto causal-comparative analytical framework. Social epidemiological theory is applied as an interpretive lens, treating institutional governance arrangements as upstream determinants of population-level climate vulnerability. Data are drawn from international treaties, constitutional provisions, statutory instruments, official policy documents, budget analyses, and peer-reviewed literature.
Results: Findings show that none of Nigeria's three major climate treaties (the UNFCCC, Kyoto Protocol, or Paris Agreement) has been formally domesticated under Section 12, leaving a critical constitutional implementation gap. While the Climate Change Act 2021 provides a comprehensive statutory framework, persistent institutional instability (including three DG appointments in the NCCC since 2022) overlapping mandates, weak enforcement capacity, and chronic underfunding of climate-related MDAs undermine mitigation and adaptation efforts. The DLBP, though statutorily established, operates with minimal public visibility and no documented role in climate-responsive budget analysis.
Conclusion: Nigeria's climate implementation gap arises less from an absence of legal instruments than from domestication delays, institutional fragility, and weak fiscal governance. These failures heighten social vulnerability and strain social protection systems. The paper recommends fast-tracking formal domestication of climate treaties, stabilising NCCC leadership within statutory terms, operationalising Section 22 of the Climate Change Act 2021 in relation to MDA budget vetting, and developing a formal climate budget analysis role for the DLBP.