An Assessment of Climate Change in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study sets out to assess the climate of Benin City to determine significant changes in its climatic variables. Benin is the capital city of Edo State a mid-western state in Nigeria. Data of average temperature, rainfall and relative humidity from 1981 – 2015 (35 years) were collected from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), airport station, Benin City. The data was analysed using ANOVA and Duncan multiple range. Findings from the study reveal that average temperature from 1981-2015 showed a significant trend as years 1981 through 1990 had the least temperature which increased with time as seen in the years 2001 through 2010. Duncan multiple range was adopted in testing the source of the significant differences across the variation year interval. The trend shown for the average annual rainfall also showed a significant trend. The average annual rainfall in the study increased with time as the trend rose from 153.66mm in years 1981 through 1990 to 211.57 in the years 2011 through 2015 when compared using one way of variance. Duncan multiple range was adopted in testing the source of the significant differences across the variation year interval. However in the case of average annual relative humidity results showed a positive trend but no significant difference across the year interval. Trend was compared using one way of variance. Duncan multiple ranges were adopted in testing the source of the significant differences across the variation year interval. Based on these findings, the study concludes that the climate in Benin City has significantly changed.

Keywords: Climate Change, Temperature, Rainfall, Humidity, Benin City