Across Nigeria, millions of children are struggling to survive, grow, and live with dignity. Their basic rights—access to education, healthcare, safety, clean water, and nutrition—remain severely compromised due to the government’s failure to prioritize and invest in their well-being. In light of this growing crisis, UNICEF and civil society groups are urging Nigerian authorities to move beyond lip service and take concrete, measurable steps to protect the country’s most vulnerable population.

At a media dialogue held to mark the 2025 Day of the African Child, Celine Lafoucriere, Chief of UNICEF in Nigeria’s South-West region, delivered a sobering message. She pointed out that inefficient and inadequate budgeting remains a major barrier to securing children’s rights. According to her, investments in children should not be treated as charity or afterthought but must be integrated into the core national development strategy.

Nigeria’s Budgeting Disconnect: Ignoring the Most Vulnerable

“Budgeting for children shouldn’t be treated as a separate exercise,” Lafoucriere stressed. “It should be embedded in the core planning for Nigeria’s population, guided by concrete data on where the most vulnerable children are, and what their needs are in terms of clean water, education, healthcare, nutrition, and protection.”

She cited Lagos as an example where education remains largely self-funded, revealing a systemic failure in public education support. “Where is the investment in protecting children, in giving them a fair start in life?” she asked.

This question is especially relevant given Nigeria’s enormous annual budgets, which are often tilted toward political overheads, inflated projects, and questionable contracts. The disconnect between spending and social needs, especially regarding children, is both unacceptable and dangerous.

Alarming Data Paints a Grim Picture

The statistics are damning. UNICEF estimates show that 54% of Nigerian children live in multidimensional poverty, deprived in at least three of seven critical areas—nutrition, healthcare, education, housing, water, sanitation, and access to information. The problem worsens in rural areas, where 65.7% of children live in deprivation compared to 28.4% in urban centers.

In 2024 alone, 11 million Nigerian children experienced severe food poverty, meaning 1 in every 3 children under five years old lacked sufficient nutrition for healthy growth and development.

Additionally, 47.4% of Nigerian children live below the national poverty line, and 24.6% suffer extreme poverty, further exacerbating their vulnerability to disease, exploitation, and violence.

School Closures, Kidnappings, and a Bleak Future

Education, a fundamental right and a powerful equalizer, is also under siege. Persistent insecurity—especially in Nigeria’s northern regions—has made schools frequent targets for kidnappers, pushing education even further out of reach for millions of children.

As insecurity rises, so does the number of children displaced, missing, or exposed to violence. Nigeria currently has 18.3 million out-of-school children, the second-highest figure globally, according to the Initiative for Research, Innovation and Advocacy in Development (IRIAD). This figure underscores a national emergency that cannot be ignored.

“No country makes progress when 18.3 million of its future citizens are locked out of the classroom,” the group warned.

Child Labour and Exploitation Remain Rampant

Alongside poverty and illiteracy, Nigerian children also face widespread exploitation. A 2022 ILO survey found that 32% of children aged 5–17 are involved in child labour, while 23% are engaged in hazardous work that puts their health and safety at risk.

These figures suggest that not only are millions of children out of school, but many are working in dangerous conditions to support their families—often with little hope of breaking the cycle of poverty.

Child Rights Law: Passed But Not Implemented

The Child Rights Act (2003) provides a legal framework for protecting children from abuse, exploitation, and forced marriage. While all 36 states and the FCT have passed the Act, only 26 states have officially gazetted it, meaning the law remains non-functional in 10 states.

This glaring gap in enforcement shows that legislation without action is meaningless, especially when millions of children are suffering daily violations of their rights.

The Glaring Contrast: Children vs. State Budgets

When one contrasts the staggering poverty levels and underinvestment in children with state-level budget allocations for political perks, white elephant projects, and inflated contracts, the hypocrisy becomes obvious.

Many states allocate huge sums for luxury SUVs, overseas travels, and bloated administrative structures while ignoring the welfare of children, particularly those in rural communities or Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps.

This gross misalignment of priorities must be called out. Leaders must be reminded that the future of Nigeria rests on how it treats its children today.

Leave No Child Behind: A Call to Action

The principle is simple and non-negotiable: Leave no child behind.

For this to happen, all tiers of government—federal, state, and local—must prove that they take children’s rights seriously. This means targeted investments, timely budget releases, and monitoring systems that ensure children in both urban and rural areas, including IDPs, are not left in the shadows.

Civil society, youth groups, the media, and everyday citizens must step up to demand accountability. Citizens must scrutinize state and federal budgets, ask the tough questions, and pressure lawmakers and governors to prioritize children’s welfare in their planning and execution.

Final Thought: Children Are the True Measure of Progress

A nation cannot claim to be progressing when nearly half of its children are poor, undernourished, uneducated, and unsafe. Progress is not about flashy infrastructure or GDP growth—it is about how the youngest, weakest, and most voiceless are treated.

Until Nigeria ensures every child’s right to health, safety, education, and a future, the entire society will remain in peril. The real test of leadership is not in speeches or ceremonies, but in the lives changed, the futures secured, and the dreams made possible—one child at a time.