Abdul-Azeez Hassan lives with the effects of a stroke he experienced at birth. His balance issues means he uses a wheelchair. He relies on family and neighbours to push or carry him across uneven and rocky ground in his riverside village of Gangam in Sokoto state, north-west Nigeria.
From June to October, the rainy season brings additional difficulties for navigating. “I [can] hardly move on the roads because of… mud[diness] and a lack of drainage,” he explains. Hassan adds that few people are willing to help him push his wheelchair across wooden bridges that link his community to the neighbouring villages, which are sometimes flooded and impassable by wheelchair. “Sometimes it takes two or more… persons to lift me and thereafter move my wheelchair across these bad spots,” he tells Dialogue Earth.
Hassan’s experience demonstrates the challenges faced by people with mobility issues living in Shagari, a local government area in Sokoto, particularly during extreme weather.
The situation is similar in communities across Nigeria and beyond, but Sokoto has been particularly affected by increasing climate change impacts, namely heatwaves, droughts, and erratic rainfall. An unfinished irrigation project has compounded issues with flooding, local residents told Dialogue Earth.
Disabled people underserved
In 2004, work began on the Shagari Dam to create a reservoir that would allow farmers to grow crops during the dry season. The scheme was planned to irrigate a 1,000-hectare area along the Sokoto River, and be paid for by the federal government.
The dam was completed in 2007, but delays have plagued the irrigation part of the scheme. Each rainy season, faults with the spillway, designed for draining off excess water, push the water level up higher than planned, causing flooding.
When there is heavy rainfall, the dam overflows. A 2020 study even found fractures in the dam that could lead to its failure.
Muhammad Kokani is the traditional head of Lambara, the small town Hassan comes from. He notes that there are “no suitable bridges” and so “unsafe” boats need to be used in the area’s water bodies. As the wooden canoes are rickety, mishaps are common and have led to fatalities, even among people with no mobility issues.
Hassan points to the growing challenges of getting to neighbouring communities on the canoes, especially without life jackets or emergency kits, as well as the added cost of bringing his wheelchair. “Each time I’m out for alms begging within the neighbourhoods, I have to take my woode[n] wheelchair… when boarding the canoe, which adds extra charges to my transportation fare. I have to make payment for two seats: for myself and the wheelchair,” he says.
Kokani says the lack of supportive infrastructure such as bridges and culverts – tunnels that carry streams under roads – has left many with few options but to leave: “Most people with disabilities, particularly those having mobility defects, have… moved out of this community.”
Aliyu Muhammad, a 30-year-old also from Lambara, had to have his leg amputated after a car accident three years ago and requires crutches to support his mobility. Muhammad relocated to the state capital, Sokoto, due to the lack of durable canoes and other safe ways of getting around the village during the rainy season.
Muhammad says he still travels to the village to help his father tend to the family’s farmland, but must time these trips to periods with less rain “due to the danger of boat capsizing” – in such a scenario, he says he may not be able to support himself in the water.
Meanwhile, Hassan remains in the village despite the accessibility problems he faces because of his strong ties to the area. “I prefer to stay in my ancestral home and having the [company] of my relati[ves],” he says.
Vulnerable without inclusion
UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 emphasises the need for transport and public space to be inclusive and safe, with special attention paid to the needs of people with disabilities. However, social protection for disabled people in Nigeria is still largely lacking.
In January 2019, the Discrimination Against Persons with Disability (Prohibition) Act was signed into law, to increase inclusion and welfare of disabled people in Nigeria.
Notably, the act stipulates that sidewalks, pedestrian crossings and other special facilities for public use are to be made accessible and usable.
However, such infrastructure is still scarce in the country. The government “needs to construct small bridges and culverts in flood-prone areas where persons with disability live. This will solve their quest [for] movement with ease,” says Mukthar Sani, 50, a polio survivor who advocates for disability inclusion in policymaking. He has been working with communities to form disability associations at the local level to improve the welfare of disabled people.
Sani has also been working to increase “enlightenment on the impacts of climate change in the rural communities and how disabled persons can adapt to it,” he says. As climate change increases, floods and other disasters related to extreme weather are expected to worsen across Nigeria.
But it is not the only country falling behind on disability access, particularly during emergencies. Worldwide, 16% of the population live with disabilities, but just 8% of those people believe their government has plans that address their needs during emergency events, according to a 2023 UN survey of over 6,300 disabled people across 137 countries. The survey noted that results show “limited progress” in disability inclusion over the past 10 years.
In Sokoto, climate change impacts continue to wreak havoc. A report by the Displacement Tracking Matrix, state emergency management agencies, and the Nigerian Red Cross Society identified climate variability and human-induced factors as having exacerbated the September 2024 flooding in the state.
Abdul-Azeez Ibrahim is chairperson of the Sokoto state chapter of the Spinal Cord Injuries Association of Nigeria, and a spinal cord injury survivor. He warns that people with certain disabilities such as his are especially vulnerable to climate change impacts.
Ibrahim says heatwaves in Nigeria have been making life unbearable for those living with spinal cord injuries, for which temperature dysregulation is a known complication. “Some persons with spinal cord injuries would not be able to cool themselves during excessive heat period[s], while most of them even feel sensational pains during hot weather,” he explains.
Many promises, few actions
Jamil Abdul, director of engineering services at the Sokoto-Rima River Basin Development Authority, the government agency overseeing the Shagari Dam, says the government is aware of the dam’s negative impacts on local people.
“We have put lots of measures in place to curtail the sufferings of these communities. The Basin will be carrying out three major repairs on the dam such as to rehabilitate the dam irrigation scheme and general maintenance at the cost of NGN 120 million (USD 79,700) and NGN 41 million (USD 27,200),” Abdul says.
In October 2024, President Bola Tinubu inaugurated a technical committee to assess the condition of dams across the nation and ensure their usefulness, safety and impact on communities.
“But in the context of climate change, addressing the dams’ problems may not be enough,” says Eze Obinna, an Abuja-based climate expert. The government must put in place policies such as community dialogue and public education, and synergise with local government officials to effectively communicate about climate adaptation and resilience with residents, he notes.
The commissioner in charge of the environment ministry in Sokoto state, Nura Shehu Tangaza, says the government has partnered with Unicef to establish a technical committee on climate change and environmental issues affecting the state.
Tangaza says his ministry is also working with the transportation department to provide motorboats with safety equipment, including life jackets and floatation devices, to ensure safe passage across waterways. He adds that the committee will be assisting the environment ministry to implement policies “that will push for climate adaptation and resilience action in the vulnerable communities like Shagari”.
Amina Kaoje, who heads the Sokoto State Agency for Disabilities, says authorities must scale up their efforts to create a safe environment for disabled people. “Governments at all levels must provide the [safest] mode[s] of transportation, as [enshrined] in the Nigerian constitution,” she notes. “But the most important issue is awareness creation. My office will conve[ne] a stakeholders’ meeting with community leaders and [the disabled] community in Shagari to brainstorm on their needs.”
Muhammad says that creating more awareness on climate adaptation could help him and other disabled people understand climate impacts. “The government could also provide modern wheelchair[s]… for disabled persons living within Shagari communities,” he adds.
Jeremiah Ameeh, who leads an inclusive community-based forum in Sokoto, says: “Vulnerable people within underserved communities like Shagari will continue to suffer [without] access to smooth movement [along] the riverine areas, unless the government provides sustainable means of waterway [access]”, such as motorised boats, compared to the wooden canoes they are currently using. He adds that residents also need community-driven engagements that educate them on issues of climate resilience and adaptation.
