NIGERIA'S children face a perilous, uncertain, and profoundly distressing reality unlike any since the Civil War era.
At this critical moment, the government, relevant agencies, and non-governmental organisations must confront these challenges decisively to ensure a better and more secure future for the country's children.
At a high-level symposium convened on Tuesday in Lagos by UNICEF, in partnership with the Nigerian Guild of Editors and the Diamond Awards for Media Excellence, representatives of key government ministries and civil society organisations voiced deep concern over the persistent lack of access to quality education, clean water and sanitation, adequate healthcare, and essential protection for Nigerian children.
The UNICEF Country Representative in Nigeria, Wafa Saeed, noted that while "Nigeria has made progress for children over the last two decades, the current pace of progress is too slow and will be difficult to reach acceptable results."
Saeed urged the Nigerian government and stakeholders to "accelerate efforts as too many children are still being left behind," noting that "routine immunisation, quality education, nutrition, and protection" should be prioritised.
Also highlighting the disturbing disparities in children's welfare across the country, the UNICEF Deputy Country Representative, Ronak Nkan, noted that almost 90 per cent of households in Lagos State have access to safe drinking water, compared to a shocking 3.0 per cent in Kebbi State.
These figures represent more than regional disparities; they reveal a country where a child's survival and prosperity depend largely on where they are born.
The environmental inequalities are stark in education, nutrition, health, water and sanitation, child protection, and digital access.
A child in the North-East or North-West is significantly more likely to be out of school, malnourished, or exposed to violence than a child in the South-West. These gaps fuel cycles of poverty and conflict that destabilise entire communities.
Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children globally. According to UNICEF, more than 10.2 million primary school-age children and 8.1 million junior secondary school-age children are currently not in school -- over 18.3 million in total.
This is intolerably excessive. Developed countries, including the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and New Zealand, have populations of less than 18.3 million each.
The report shows that Northern Nigeria accounts for a disproportionately high number of these children due to conflict, poverty, and cultural norms, with figures reaching 15.23 million out of school in the region compared to 2.58 million in the South.
Data from Nigeria's 2023 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey shows that 2.2 million children under age one did not receive basic vaccines.
Preventable diseases such as measles, pneumonia, and tetanus continue to claim lives in communities where immunisation services are absent or inaccessible.
The National Population Commission and UNICEF estimate that six in 10 Nigerian children experience some form of physical, emotional or sexual violence before the age of 18.
Many suffer abuse in places meant to protect them: homes, schools, and even religious institutions.
Child labour remains rampant, from street hawking to hazardous jobs, and thousands of children are married off before the age of 15, truncating their futures before they begin. A 2022 survey by the National Bureau of Statistics estimated that 23 million Nigerian children aged five to 14 are working.
Sadly, child marriage prevalence remains high in the country, with 44 per cent of girls married off before the age of 18, totalling over 24 million child brides and ranking third globally. Worse, many are already divorced and destitute before the age of 30.
However, recent data suggests a decline in national child marriage prevalence from 44 per cent to 30 per cent, according to UNICEF.
Food and healthcare access remain problematic. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies estimate that two million children suffer from severe acute malnutrition in Nigeria, with only 20 per cent receiving nutritional and other treatments they desperately need.
"Acute malnutrition is now contributing to nearly half of child deaths under five in the affected areas. The North-East and North-West regions are hardest hit, with millions of children and pregnant women facing malnutrition due to poor food access, unsafe water, and the secondary effects of ongoing conflict," it says.
A 2025 report by the WHO and the UNICEF estimates that around 2.1 million Nigerian children under the age of one, roughly 24 per cent, remain zero-dose, receiving no routine vaccines at all.
In 2021, the UNICEF said over 100,000 children under five die from water-borne diseases annually in Nigeria due to a lack of access to clean water.
Nigeria stands today at a defining moment, one that demands clear-eyed honesty and urgent action. Across the country, an unending cycle of violence has been unleashed with the same heartbreaking pattern.
Children are killed, raped, injured, abducted, displaced, or traumatised beyond measure. Their schools are raided, their communities attacked, and many families are uprooted. Many Nigerian children are caught in a crisis they did not create or understand, yet are forced to bear its heaviest consequences.
Between 2014 and 2023, over 2,400 school children suffered kidnapping at the hands of Islamic terrorists and bandits, mainly in the North.
This is precisely the scale of human suffering the United Nations sought to prevent in 1954 when it established Universal Children's Day to promote and protect the rights of every child.
Yet, 71 years on, the conditions for Nigerian children have deteriorated so severely that the schools meant to nurture future leaders have been transformed into battlegrounds.
Banditry, insurgency, communal conflicts, and armed criminality have converged to create one of the most hostile environments for children anywhere in the world.
The late Nelson Mandela once said, "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." If that is true, then Nigeria must confront what its treatment of children reveals about its collective moral compass. A country that consumes its young for breakfast and robs its children for dinner is on the brink of the collapse of its civilisation.
Individuals, governments at all levels and corporate bodies must halt this affront on the country's collective humanity and ensure that children are safe, educated, protected, and healthy. Nigeria cannot, and will not, progress without this significant step.