The Society for Planet & Prosperity (SPP), in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Environment, has launched the third report on Sub-national Climate Governance Performance Rating and Ranking across Nigeria.
The Sub-national Climate Governance Performance Rating and Ranking is an annual assessment tool that evaluates how well Nigeria’s 36 state governments handle climate change, environmental sustainability and policy implementation at the local level.
Speaking at the launching ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, Minister of Environment, Mr Balarabe Lawal, called on state governors to make climate action an integral part of their development and investment priorities.
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He said the Nigerian Government, under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu, remained committed to partnering with relevant stakeholders to provide the technical assistance, capacity development and collaboration needed to support this journey.
“Let us use this Third Edition to transform competition into constructive learning, rankings into accountability, and commitments into tangible outcomes.
“I commend all 36 States and FCT for their participation and continued commitment, and encourage every State to use this initiative as a pathway towards stronger climate governance, greater resilience and sustainable development,” he said.
The Minister added that Nigeria could build a more resilient, low-carbon and prosperous nation, leaving no state and no community behind, with the commitment of state governments.
President, Society for Planet & Prosperity, Professor Chukwumerije Okereke, in his presentation, said the ranking was not based simply on a state’s climate record or its vulnerability to climate change.
According to Professor Okereke, the assessment examined how effectively Nigeria’s 36 states were governing and implementing climate action across five main areas: climate institutions and governance; climate policy and action plans; climate project implementation and monitoring; climate budget and finance; and online visibility of climate activities.
He noted that this year, states were required to provide evidence of five major climate projects, from which the best three were selected for scoring.
“The assessment also examined budgeting, access to climate finance, stakeholder participation, monitoring and evaluation, and online visibility. The ranking was based on evidence submitted by the states, followed by verification, with strict emphasis on transparency and integrity,” he said.
Professor Okereke noted that overall, the results demonstrated substantial improvement in state-level climate action and showed that continued collaboration, peer learning, stronger implementation and better access to climate finance could further strengthen Nigeria’s response to the climate emergency.
In his acceptance speech, the winner of the 2025 Sub-national Climate Governance ranking, Katsina State Commissioner of Environment and Special Adviser on Climate Change, Professor Mohammed Alamin, said, for Katsina, the climate agenda was also being presented as a development and security issue, with particular attention to the effects of desertification, resource pressure and climate variability on agriculture, livelihoods and communities.
He noted that the administration of Governor Dikko Radda had emphasised the involvement of young people and women in climate action and was pursuing initiatives including the Katsina One-Person-One-Tree programme, which targets two million trees in 2026 and 11 million by 2030.
“The state is also positioning its climate, agriculture, renewable-energy and carbon-market opportunities for international engagement, making the latest ranking both a recognition of its climate-governance efforts and a platform for showcasing its broader green-development agenda,” he said.
According to the 2025 year report ranking, Kwara State came in fifth position, Lagos State ranked fourth, Kano State took third place, Abia State came second, while Katsina State emerged in first position.
