Seeing the Heat Before It Kills: A Live Satellite Dashboard for El Niño Risk in Nigeria and the Case for Nigerian Satellites

An unusually strong El Niño is under way. The Pacific's Niño 3.4 region is running about 3.4 °C above normal, and Nigeria is feeling it as dangerous heat and drying soil. Heat kills quietly, mostly older people, babies and those with heart, kidney or blood-pressure illness, and most of those deaths are preventable [6, 7]. This study presents the Nigerian El Niño Risk Watch, a free, live dashboard that combines NOAA, NASA, MET Norway, CHIRPS and NiMet station data, refreshes every six hours, and gives every state plain advice on clothing, water and timing. As of 29 October 2026, 33 of 37 states have areas forecast to reach the "Danger" heat level within a week, and 28 have drier soil than normal. The study also argues that Nigeria needs satellites of its own, so that the data that protects Nigerians is shaped around Nigerian needs.