The Connected Development (CODE) has unveiled its 2025 Annual Report, highlighting $177.7 billion annual financing gap for Nigeria to meet its climate obligations, while calling for reforms in global climate funding architecture.
Acting Chief Executive Officer of CODE, Ms. Hyeladzira Mshelia, presented the report in Abuja.
She said that Nigeria received $4.928 billion in climate finance over seven years, with 75 percent of the funds coming as loans.
The report, with the theme “Leading Communities to Action”, highlighted the projects the organisation had undertaken since inception such as “Follow the money” and “Climate Action”, among others.
CODE follows the money, and in 2025, we tracked funds across 12 African countries, covering 4,772 schools, oil-producing communities in the Niger Delta and federal allocation data largely inaccessible to ordinary Nigerians,” she said.
She noted that the organisation applied its Follow The Money methodology to Nigeria’s Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), stressing that lack of transparency in health security financing could have life-threatening consequences.
Beyond its findings, Mshelia said CODE developed a Gender-Responsive Education Sector Planning roadmap in Bauchi State and established a Civic Integrity Club in a special needs school in Cross River.
She added that the organisation expanded its footprint to 12 African countries with the launch of Follow The Money in Sierra Leone and trained more than 450 students through civic hackathons and advocacy initiatives.
Highlighting impact stories, Mshelia cited Dorathy Stephen, a participant in the Girl-Child Education Project, who was later appointed to a ministerial committee on sexual harassment in Bauchi State.
Looking ahead to the 2027 general elections, Mshelia stressed the need for strengthened civic engagement and transparency.
“Nigeria is a few months away from general elections. What happens now in terms of civic education and citizen participation will determine the quality of that election,” she said.
Senior Adviser, Policy and Strategy, Office of the Speaker, House of Representatives, Chimdi Neliaku, said government must look for innovative ways to communicate its policies to the citizens for better understanding.