Climate Finance Diplomacy and the Politics of Loss and Damage in Africa: Nigeria’s Advocacy Role

This dissertation examines Nigeria's diplomatic advocacy role in shaping the global climate finance architecture, with particular focus on the loss and damage mechanism established at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in 2022, analysing the negotiating strategies, coalition dynamics, and theoretical implications of Africa's engagement with this frontier of climate justice diplomacy. The loss and damage debate represents a fundamental contest over historical responsibility, climate justice, and the limits of adaptation in the international climate regime. African states, led by the V20 and the African Group of Negotiators, have been the most consistent advocates for strong loss and damage provisions, with Nigeria occupying a complex dual position as both a significant emitter through oil production and a highly vulnerable developing country. Drawing on climate justice theory, multilateral negotiation theory, and the political economy of global environmental governance, this study analyses Nigeria's climate finance diplomacy from 2019 to 2024 across COP sessions, examining its coalition management, negotiating texts, and the domestic political economy that shapes its international climate positioning. Primary data are drawn from UNFCCC negotiation records, the African Group of Negotiators' position papers, Nigerian delegation reports, and semi-structured interviews with Nigerian negotiators and climate diplomacy scholars. The theoretical contribution develops an original account of the conditions under which middle-income developing states successfully exercise disproportionate normative influence in multilateral environmental negotiations through strategic alliance formation and narrative entrepreneurship. Keywords: climate finance, loss and damage, Nigeria, COP, climate justice.