The 2025 World Radio Day theme, “Radio and Climate Change”, presents another opportunity to spotlight radio’s critical role in addressing climate change in Nigeria. The urgency of these discussions cannot be overstated, as climate data continues to paint a troubling picture of the future. As a powerful communication tool, radio can simplify complex climate issues, challenge cultural misconceptions, amplify voices from affected communities, combat misinformation, and hold policymakers accountable.
In 2024, the Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that global temperatures were 1.75°C above pre-industrial levels, making it the warmest year in history. This trend has continued into January 2025, reinforcing concerns about rising sea levels, wildfires, heat waves, melting glaciers and extreme weather events. The 2024 International Organization for Migration-Displacement Tracking Matrix report on Nigeria revealed that climate change has impacted 60% of households, causing a 45% loss of crops due to excessive rainfall and flooding, a 36% decline in daily labour jobs due to agricultural failures, and a 19% loss of livestock to floods.
To combat these challenges, it is essential to raise continuous conversations on climate change and solutions. Radio remains one of the most accessible and effective tools to bridge the climate information gap. Its affordability and far-reaching influence, especially in rural areas, position it as a key driver of climate advocacy. Through well-designed radio campaigns, broadcasters can demystify climate jargon, counter misinformation and amplify the concerns of those on the frontlines of climate disasters. Radio can facilitate two-way communication, allowing communities to share firsthand experiences of climate change impacts and solutions. A well-informed public can, in turn, use this knowledge to demand action from leaders and policymakers.
At WSCIJ, we continue to celebrate the unparallel capacity of radio to inform every section of society. As part of our 2025 World Radio Day celebration, we convened a virtual conversation on ‘Enhancing radio’s role in climate action and education at the grassroots in Nigeria’. Panellists at the virtual session highlighted radio’s role in climate communication, emphasising how it reaches even the most remote communities. In 2011 and 2014, we created a special category to climate change reporting at the Wole Soyinka Award for Investigative Reporting (WSAIR). In 2022, at the Amplify In-depth Media (AIM) Conference, we held a dedicated session on ‘Practical Steps to Reporting Climate Change’, to equip investigative journalists with tools to improve climate storytelling. That same year, Babatunde Okunlola of Diamond FM, Osun State, won the first prize in the radio category for his documentary, ‘Gold Rushes & Land Grabs’, which exposed the environmental and human costs of illegal mining. Apart from Babatunde, seven other radio reporters have been rewarded in the 19-year history of the WSCIJ’s award, two of which were honoured more than once, combined five times.
Investigative journalists have a critical role to play in deepening the coverage of climate change, and radio journalists, in particular, must leverage the medium’s unparalleled reach to strengthen climate communication. By informing and engaging the public, radio can drive conversations that inspire action and solutions for a more sustainable future. Now, more than ever, radio must rise to the occasion to educate and empower communities to confront the realities of climate change and take decisive action before it is too late.
Signed
Motunrayo Alaka
Executive Director/CEO, WSCIJ
