It’s just past noon in Abuja under a worn-out umbrella at Katampe Junction in Mpape, Gift Oyewale, a trader, wipes sweat from her face. The air is hot and the ground radiates extreme heat. “Since January, the weather has been very hot,” she says, fanning herself with a book. “I have been managing the heat like that, I don’t have a choice than to stay here because I need to sell”. For traders like Gift Oyewale, the relentless heat has transformed daily routines into endurance tests. “It’s not easy,” she admits. “We walk out to find customers, and everywhere is hot, so we just pour water on our bodies till it’s evening and then we can take our bath when we go home.”
Gift’s experience is echoed by many in Abuja’s informal sector. Abubakar Shehu, another informal trader who spoke in Hausa, notes a decline in patronage: “People don’t come out to buy as they used to because of the hot sun.” Similarly, Favour Boris, a mobile money agent, observes, “because of the weather, some people, when they come to withdraw money, they are usually in a hurry that I should be fast; this weather is too hot for them.”
The health implications are alarming. Nkiru Bright a trader who sells edibles by the street of Mpape reports frequent headaches, attributing them to the intense sun and heat: “It’s during hot weather that you notice that headaches is not your mate at all because that is when you notice that you’re having headache almost everytime.” Nkiru Bright shares her experience on relying on water to calm her and expressed a longing for shaded areas: “If I see a place where I can lay down under a tree, it would have been better for me.”
According to the International Labour Organization, extreme heat significantly reduces income and productivity for informal workers by shortening trading hours, causing fatigue, and leading to heat-related illnesses. Workers in outdoor sectors like street vending, agriculture, and transport can lose up to 20–30% of their daily income during heatwaves. In 2019 alone, global heat stress led to the loss of 80 million full-time jobs and by 2030, the equivalent of more than 2% of total working hours worldwide is projected to be lost every year, either because it is too hot to work or because workers have to slow down.
The Science Behind the Scorch
With the growing concerns over extreme heat in the FCT primarily driven by climate change, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NiMet) raised fresh alarms at the start of 2025 over rising temperatures and humidity levels across parts of the country. In an advisory issued via its official X handle on February 20, 2025, NiMet listed the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) among states vulnerable to intense heat stress and already at the danger point, with a need to pay attention to health.
The agency urged residents in affected areas to take necessary precautions, including staying hydrated, avoiding prolonged exposure to the sun, and checking on the elderly and children who are most susceptible to heat-related illnesses.
One of such alarming instance was recorded on March 31, 2025, when the FCT experienced an unprecedented daytime temperature of 40°C — a significant deviation from the seasonal average of 35°C.
Experts say such spikes are a clear indicator of the intensifying impacts of climate change, and they underscore the urgent need for climate-resilient infrastructure and proactive public health planning.
These extreme conditions are not just numbers—they translate to real health risks. Nanman Philemon Kash, Assistant General Secretary of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), explains: “In Nigeria, we already have a lot of sunlight then coupled with this climate change issues, the weather has really changed. Right now, you see that rainfall has barely started and the sun is still very strong, very harsh and for a worker who works under the sun, like the informal workers, they are mostly affected because of their exposure to outdoor activities.”
Kash warns of serious health consequences: “When somebody stays long under the sun definitely they will be sweating more because of the heat and losing fluid which leads to dehydration. So the person becomes very distressed because of the heat generally called heat stress. It’s also affect their kidney because the work of the kidney is to filter the fluid and then bring out urine, but now that the system doesn’t have fluids again because they have been sweating it can lead to a damage in kidney” she stressed.
Policy Gaps and the Need for Shade
Efforts to mitigate these challenges is clearly not in place. At the time of this report, a visit to the Bwari Area Council Secretariat revealed that staff were on strike over unpaid entitlements. Further discussions with the Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) at the Bwari Area Council confirmed that there are no provisions for cooling systems or facilities for informal traders.
The lack of cooling centers and sufficient shades increases the plight of informal workers. Gift Oyewale expresses a common wish: “Yes! I really wish that there were places along the road where we could get cool breeze even if I have to stay there for a short time because of the very hot sun”.
Trees, also a natural alternative to cooling facilities is not sufficient in areas as Katampe junction of Mpape in the FCT.
Seeking Solutions Amidst the Heat
In the absence of institutional support, informal traders have made up their own personal coping strategies. Kelly Ekechi shares his method: “What I do is that I use to pour water on my handkerchief and I cover my head while under the hot sun.”
Others, like Favour Boris, says she endures the discomfort, because she has to earn a living.
In response to the rising heatwaves, experts and concerned citizens have pointed to the establishment of community cooling centres as a potential measure to protect vulnerable informal workers. These centres are designed to offer immediate relief from extreme temperatures and can serve as platforms for public education on heat-related health risks and climate adaptation strategies, including tree planting and maintenance.
Meanwhile, a manual by the German Red Cross and the Vietnam Red Cross Society gives a step-by-step guidance on how to set up and manage such centres. Implementing similar models in Nigeria, particularly in areas as Abuja, may help reduce the health impacts of extreme heat on informal workers and other risk groups.
As individuals in Abuja’s informal sector continue to face and the intense heat with their personal coping mechanisms, the absence of coordinated infrastructure and policy interventions suggests that such interventions may be needed to address the challenges caused by rising temperatures as time has shown that extreme heat is not just a weather event hut also a public health crisis.
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