Nigeria has an estimated 350 carbon projects operating on its soil, but most lack the sovereign authorisation required under the Paris Agreement's Article 6 framework. Without formal letters of authorisation from the National Council on Climate Change, credits from these projects trade at lower prices, carry no community benefit obligations under Nigerian law, and generate no fiscal return to the state. The gap between market activity and regulatory readiness leaves communities exposed and undermines the country's long-term climate finance position. The article draws a parallel to Zimbabwe, whose fully authorised credits were ruled ineligible for CORSIA, the aviation sector's offsetting scheme. For Nigeria, the first-order problem is more basic: no public registry exists to show which projects are authorised, who approved them, or what benefit-sharing arrangements are in place. Developers are working within the only structure available, but the sovereign pathway exists in law, not in practice. The piece recommends that Nigeria formally ask crediting programmes what conditions its registry would need to meet for CORSIA eligibility, and publish a full project registry before ICAO's next council session.
