Heatwave: Lagos families endure nights of discomfort, exhaustion

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As rising temperatures turn homes into uncomfortable spaces, families across Nigeria battle sleepless nights, repeated bathing, dehydration, health complications, and mounting costs of staying cool, with children and elderly people, particularly, bearing much of the burden, CHIJIOKE IREMEKA reports

For a 79-year-old great-grandmother, Carol Okeke, not having enough sleep at night due to excessive heat caused by rising temperatures raises her blood pressure each morning she wakes up.

“My blood pressure goes up almost every morning after long hours of sleeplessness at night due to excessive heat,” the great-grandmother told Saturday PUNCH.

The mother of six, who lives with her son in FESTAC, Lagos, said she used to pour water on her body while sleeping and, in most cases, wet her towel and place it on her body while sleeping to reduce the impact of heat on her.

“This makes me sleep better and also makes my bed damp and sometimes smelly. But that was the only way I could sleep in the absence of electricity,” said the stroke survivor.

On one occasion, she told our correspondent that she almost fainted if not for the timely intervention of her son.

“Sometimes, I feel like fainting. In fact, on one occasion, I had to call my son on the phone at about 2 am because I was fainting. Then he had to come out and turn on the generator.

“Luckily, there was fuel at home. If not for that singular act, I would have collapsed because my breathing was shortening. The heat was intense, and sometimes, there wouldn’t be a breeze at all.

“Daytime is better because I could change location and go to the side of the building where there could be a little breeze, but at night, every other person had gone to bed, and you are stuck,” she said.

According to the octogenarian, her son used to run the generator from 7 pm to 12 am and sometimes 1 am, but most times, the heat starts again immediately after the generator is switched off, making her uncomfortable.

She added that the impact of the heat in her room was intense because it wasn’t well ventilated, saying that her son wanted to install a window in the room to allow cross- ventilation, but the landlord refused.

In a similar development, a 52-year-old resident of Aguda, Surulere, Fola Adejobi, said she takes her bath three times and sometimes before the morning to be able to sleep amid the heatwave.

“I take my bath three times in the night, and sometimes four, depending on the intensity of the heat. If I close my eyes and wake up, my pillow and bedspread are soaked,” Adejobi told our correspondent.

For many Lagosians like Adejobi, the heat does not end when the sun goes down; rather, nightfall brings another frustrating struggle.

Adejobi, a mother of three who lives on Olufemi Sokan Street, Surulere, said sleeping through the night had become a major challenge, as the scorching heat also leaves her children distressed, often crying as they struggle to find relief.

She said the heat inside her home between 8 pm and 2 am could become unbearable, leaving her hoping and praying for electricity to be restored.

“I keep changing their clothes and applying powder to see if they can escape the heat, but there is nothing positive. Without electricity in this situation, it’s unbearable,” she said.

“Apart from my children, my skin will be hurting me, and it will feel as if it wants to peel, and it makes me restless. I will be praying for the day to break,” Adejobi added.

According to her, her discomfort is compounded by the layout of the public housing where she lives, where residents pass by her windows to access other apartments.

Adejobi told our correspondent that this makes it difficult for her to leave the windows open for ventilation, particularly because she sometimes resorts to sleeping naked to cope with the heat.

“To make matters worse, I live in a public house where people walk through my windows to other apartments. I can’t open my window because I learned to sleep naked,” she said.

She added that after a night of disrupted sleep, she wakes up weak because she did not get enough sleep due to the excessive heat.

Rising temperatures, which refer to an increase in the measured amount of heat or thermal energy in an environment, system, or across the Earth’s surface over time, are currently plaguing Nigeria and the rest of the world.

Globally referred to as extreme heat conditions or heatwaves, they are among the most dangerous natural hazards but rarely receive adequate attention because their death tolls and destruction are not always immediately obvious.

A global study published in The Lancet indicates that approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths occurred each year globally between 2000 and 2019, particularly due to extreme heat.

According to the World Health Organisation, extreme heat is an urgent and growing public health threat, driven by climate change and exacerbated by urbanisation and population ageing.

The global health body said the condition increases morbidity and mortality, strains health and social care systems, and disproportionately affects populations at increased risk.

The WHO noted that it had issued heat-health action plans to help mitigate the effects of extreme heat across the world.

The WHO’s heat-health action plans are a core public health response, enabling countries to anticipate and prepare for extreme heat, protect populations at increased risk, strengthen health system resilience, and reduce avoidable illnesses and deaths.

They offer an implementation-oriented framework structured around eight core elements: governance; heat-health warning systems; populations at increased risk; communication; health system resilience; reducing heat exposure; heat-health surveillance; and monitoring, evaluation and learning.

Earlier, the United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, called on countries to take immediate and radical action to achieve global carbon neutrality by the 2040 target.

The UN chief said the temperature showed that the Earth had passed from a warming phase into an era of global boiling.

Speaking in New York, Guterres described the intense heat across the Northern Hemisphere as a cruel summer.

“For the entire planet, it is a disaster. Short of a mini-Ice Age over the next few days, it will shatter records across the board. Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived,” he said.

The extreme impacts of climate change have been in line with scientists’ predictions and repeated warnings, Guterres said.

Referring to the fossil fuel sector, he said, “The air is unbreathable. The heat is unbearable. And the level of fossil fuel profits and climate inaction is unacceptable.”

He called on developed countries to commit to achieving carbon neutrality as close to 2040 as possible, and for emerging economies to do so as close as possible to 2050.

A report by the Climate Impact Lab warned that Nigeria could record an additional 31,400 heat-related deaths between September 2026 and February 2027 as an unusually strong El Niño weather pattern intensifies.

This puts Nigeria among the countries projected to suffer the highest number of additional heat-related deaths globally during the six months, with nearly half of the 66,800 deaths projected across the Sahel region expected to occur in the country.

The report, published on September 22, 2026, and titled 451,000 at Risk: Where Action Can Save Lives During the Super El Niño, indicates that 451,000 additional heat-related deaths could occur worldwide between June 2026 and February 2027 compared with a normal year.

The researchers project that global land temperatures will be 1.2 degrees Celsius above normal in the coming months, with 44 per cent more extremely hot days than would typically be expected.

On the human cost of the projections, a co-founder of the Climate Impact Lab and professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, Michael Greenstone, said the figures represented people going about their everyday lives.

“We have long been able to predict the impacts of temperatures on crops, and now we can predict their impact on the worst outcome—death. The result is that we can now estimate that 451,000 people may die in the coming months due to El Niño.

“This is such a large number that it can be numbing, but it is made up of parents and children, grandparents and neighbours, people going to work, caring for families, and living their lives,” Greenstone said.

The researchers warned that the unusually high temperatures expected during the El Niño event resembled conditions that climate change could make commonplace in about two decades.

“This is more than a hot summer; it’s a postcard from the future. The anomalously warm temperatures that most of the globe will see during this El Niño event are a ‘postcard from the future’: while they feel anomalous now, they will become normal just a few decades into the future,” the report stated.

Sequel to this, the Osun State Government advised residents against wearing heavy clothing to prevent illnesses associated with extreme heat.

The Permanent Secretary, Osun State Ministry of Health, Dr Isiaka Adekunle, explained the role weather conditions play in human health. He said staying hydrated and remaining in well-ventilated areas would improve residents’ health.

“It is part of the changes in the climate that we are seeing. Of course, there will be heat. The temperature will rise, and when things like that happen, there are heat-related health challenges associated with it.

“You don’t need to put on thick clothes. Wear something very light. Some people have the habit of wearing too many clothes. Desist from such, at least for now. Open our windows. Let there be free circulation of air. This is not the time to close everything. This is the time to open your windows and allow free circulation of air,” Adekunle said.

Speaking further, a public health physician, Dr Rotimi Adesanya, said consuming fruits and vegetables such as watermelon, oranges, cucumber and pineapple could help people maintain hydration during periods of high temperatures.

He also urged Nigerians to recognise warning signs of heat exhaustion and heatstroke, protect vulnerable groups, including children and older people, and seek immediate medical attention when severe symptoms occur.

Adesanya, the Director of Medical Services at the Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos, advised Nigerians while outlining measures individuals could take to protect themselves from heat-related illnesses.

He advised Nigerians to include water-rich fruits and vegetables in their diets, saying, “Eat water-rich fruits and vegetables like watermelon, oranges, cucumber and pineapple.”

He also encouraged people to drink plenty of water and carry water bottles, particularly when going outdoors.

“Drink plenty of water: Always carry a water bottle,” he advised.

Adesanya warned that dizziness and weakness could be early signs of heat exhaustion, urging people experiencing such symptoms to alert someone or seek help.

He identified confusion, fainting, hot, dry skin and collapse as warning signs of heatstroke, stressing the need for immediate action when they occur.

A professor of Public Health at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Tanimola Akande said excessive heat could lead to death if there is severe dehydration and proper measures are not taken.

“Hot weather commonly causes dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, heat rash, and heat cramps. It can worsen health conditions in people who have cardiovascular and respiratory diseases,” Akande said.

According to him, everyone is exposed to the risk of high temperatures, but more so with people who work outdoors and with heavy manual physical workloads.

The Nigerian Meteorological Agency said dehydration could also cause fainting, chickenpox, measles, heat rash, weakness of the body, slight fever, dry lips, heat-related illnesses, respiratory issues, and increased vulnerability to chronic conditions.

According to the WHO’s July 31 report, heat is an important environmental and occupational health hazard. It indicated that heat stress is a leading cause of weather-related deaths and can exacerbate underlying illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental health conditions, and asthma.

It can also increase the risk of accidents and the transmission of some infectious diseases.

The global health body warned that the number of people exposed to extreme heat is growing exponentially due to climate change in all regions of the world.

It cautioned that over one billion children are exposed to increasingly severe heatwaves, insisting that about 1.5 billion children under one experienced a five-fold increase in the number of heatwave days in 2024 compared with the 1986–2005 baseline period, rising from roughly four days per year to more than 20.

“These periods of high temperature are becoming longer, more frequent and more severe,” the WHO warned. Heat-related mortality among people over 65 years of age increased by approximately 85 per cent between 2000–2004 and 2017–2021.

“Between 2000 and 2019, studies show that approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths occurred each year, with 45 per cent of these in Asia and 36 per cent in Europe,” it said.

The reports showed that vulnerability to heat is shaped by both physiological factors, such as age and health status, and exposure factors, such as occupation and socio-economic conditions.

“The negative health impacts of heat are predictable and largely preventable with specific public health and multi-sectoral policies and interventions,” it added.

According to the World Meteorological Organisation, Europe also saw record-breaking temperatures, while Asia and Africa both experienced their warmest July on record.

“This summer was the hottest on record in the UK, with five widespread heatwaves and 40 days when the temperature was above 30 degrees Celsius,” the UK Meteorological Office said.

Also, a public health physician and Senior Lecturer at the Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Dr Doyin Ogunyemi, said high temperatures can have very deleterious effects on the human body.

“Apart from causing the temperature of the body to be high, extreme heat can cause exhaustion called heat exhaustion, and you can have people fainting, and people who have underlying cardiovascular diseases can have a stroke, and other kinds of morbid conditions from the effects of heat.

“Excessive heat is worse in some age groups like children and older adults. The elderly are

vulnerable; it can affect people in the extreme age groups, and they can get very sweaty, and it can cause respiratory infections,” Ogunyemi said.

As temperatures continue to rise, residents are adopting different coping strategies to escape the scorching heat, particularly at night when indoor spaces become uncomfortable.

For many families, staying indoors has become increasingly difficult as houses retain the heat accumulated throughout the day, making it almost impossible to enjoy a comfortable night’s sleep.

One resident, Kingsley Ejirim, said he had purchased an outdoor mosquito net to enable him and his family to sleep outside until the temperature inside their home became bearable.

According to him, the heat becomes particularly intense in the evening, even after sunset, as buildings and surrounding environments continue to radiate the heat absorbed during the day.

“I have bought an outdoor mosquito net that will help me and my family stay outside till about 3 am, depending on when the house cools off. We stay outside to catch some sleep.

“During the day, it heats up everywhere, and in the evening, when people are going home and entering the house, everywhere will be hot.

“This is what I do to stay off the scorching heat at night. It helps. At least, my compound has a fence, and we are protected. I see it being done by many people, but the problem is the mosquitoes, which will not allow you to keep your children there,” he said.

Ejirim explained that sleeping outdoors had become a practical alternative for his household, particularly during periods when the heat inside the house became unbearable.

He added that the fenced compound provided some level of security, making it possible for his family to remain outside for several hours.

However, he identified mosquitoes as a major challenge associated with the practice, especially for families with young children. Despite the protection offered by mosquito nets, the insects remain a concern for residents attempting to find relief outdoors.

His experience reflects the growing difficulties faced by households as extreme heat affects sleeping patterns, comfort, and everyday living.

For residents like Ejirim, escaping the heat has become a nightly struggle, requiring adjustments to normal routines and living arrangements just to get some sleep.

“I have a power generator set but cannot afford to be buying fuel every day that would run till morning. I buy 14 litres of fuel for N20, 000, so I have to manage it well. I can put it on while we are doing something, but when it is 9 pm, we are out, and the gen goes off,” he added.

Chijioke Iremeka is a Senior Correspondent at Punch Newspapers with 19 years of professional experience. He has reported across multiple media houses in Nigeria, covering beats such as health, features, real estate, and insurance, and has received numerous journalism awards for his work. Chijioke’s reporting demonstrates extensive newsroom expertise, editorial judgment, and a dedication to truth, integrity, and excellence in journalism.

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