How Nigeria’s children bear the brunt of a nation’s struggles—and the path to a brighter future
In the crowded slums of Lagos, Adaoma’s laugh pierces the chaos. She’s two years old, her world a patchwork of mismatched toys, a threadbare mat, and her mother’s love. As she toddles after her older brother, oblivious to the choking smog and the thundering sound of commercial tricycles, she is the picture of innocence. Yet beneath this snapshot of resilience lies a chilling truth: in Nigeria, Adaoma is one of the lucky ones.
Every day, more than 2,000 Nigerian children under five die—victims of poverty, malnutrition, preventable diseases, and a healthcare system ill-equipped to save them. In 2022 alone, 835,000 Nigerian children never reached their fifth birthday, the highest number of under-five deaths anywhere in the world. For a nation celebrated for its cultural vibrancy, entrepreneurial zeal, and natural wealth, this grim milestone is a sobering reminder of its unfulfilled potential.
These statistics are just one part of a damning assessment detailed in The State of the World’s Children 2024, a new report by UNICEF. For Nigeria, the report doesn’t just highlight a crisis; it underscores the paradox of a nation teeming with promise yet mired in challenges that rob its children of a fair start in life.
A Grim Reality
The numbers tell a story of systemic failure. Nigeria’s under-five mortality rate stands at 107 deaths per 1,000 live births—nearly three times the global average. Many of these deaths are due to complications during childbirth, neonatal infections, pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria—conditions that are entirely preventable or treatable with the right resources.
In rural Nigeria, healthcare is often little more than a word on a signboard. Clinics lack staff, medicines, and even electricity. Women give birth at home or in makeshift facilities, relying on untrained birth attendants. Babies born prematurely or with complications rarely survive. “We do what we can, but it’s never enough,” says Amina, a midwife in Kano State, where maternal and newborn mortality rates are among the highest in the country.
Even in urban centers like Lagos and Abuja, access to healthcare is stratified. Private hospitals offer world-class care, but for the majority who live on less than $2 a day, these facilities are out of reach. Public hospitals, meanwhile, are overcrowded and under-resourced. Patients wait for hours—sometimes days—for basic services. For children like Adaoma, even a simple fever can escalate into a death sentence.
The Burden of Malnutrition
Food insecurity compounds the crisis. In northern Nigeria, where decades of conflict and displacement have ravaged communities, nearly half of all children under five suffer from stunting, a condition caused by chronic malnutrition. Their growth is stunted not just physically but cognitively, locking them into a cycle of poverty before they can even walk.
“Malnutrition is the silent killer,” says Dr. Amaka Okafor, a pediatrician in Borno State. “You see a child who looks fine one day, and the next, they’re gone because their body just couldn’t fight an infection.”
Programs to combat malnutrition exist, but they are sporadic and underfunded. Therapeutic food and supplements are distributed in some areas, but reaching remote or conflict-affected communities is a logistical nightmare. The lack of political will to prioritize nutrition further exacerbates the problem.
Conflict and Displacement: A Generation on the Brink
In the northeast, the scars of Boko Haram’s insurgency run deep. Over 2.2 million people remain displaced, many of them children. Camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) are overcrowded and under-resourced, with limited access to clean water, sanitation, or healthcare.
For children, the trauma of conflict is compounded by the absence of stability. Schools have been burned down, teachers killed, and classrooms repurposed as shelters. “We’ve forgotten what normal life feels like,” says Halima, a 12-year-old in Maiduguri, who hasn’t attended school in three years. Her voice is steady, but her eyes betray her loss.
The Urban Poor: A Hidden Crisis
While rural poverty is well-documented, the plight of the urban poor often goes unnoticed. In Lagos, sprawling informal settlements house millions who live without clean water, sanitation, or reliable healthcare. Here, diseases like cholera and typhoid thrive, killing children who might have otherwise survived in better conditions.
The government has made some strides in addressing urban poverty, but efforts are often piecemeal and fail to reach the most vulnerable. “Urbanization is not inherently bad,” says urban planner Tunde Ajayi, “but without inclusive policies, it becomes a breeding ground for inequality.”
Education in Crisis
Education, a cornerstone for any nation’s development, remains elusive for millions of Nigerian children. In northern Nigeria, cultural norms and insecurity keep many girls out of school. Early marriage and child labor replace education for too many young girls, perpetuating cycles of poverty and dependency.
“We cannot talk about development if our children are not in school,” says education advocate Hauwa Abdullahi. “An uneducated child today becomes an unproductive adult tomorrow.”
The Path Forward
Despite the overwhelming challenges, Nigeria has reasons to hope. Local NGOs and international partners are working tirelessly to address critical gaps in healthcare, nutrition, and education. Community health workers are expanding vaccination campaigns to protect children from preventable diseases, while mobile clinics are reaching remote areas with essential healthcare services that would otherwise be unavailable.
UNICEF’s report underscores that solutions are within reach, provided Nigeria can rally the political will and allocate the necessary resources to implement them. Strengthening healthcare systems is a crucial step, involving investments in rural health centers, the training of skilled birth attendants, and the establishment of reliable supply chains for essential medicines. Equally important is scaling up nutrition programs to combat stunting and wasting, particularly in conflict-affected regions where malnutrition has taken a severe toll.
Education must also take center stage, with efforts focused on rebuilding schools in the northeast, promoting girl-child education, and ensuring that learning environments are safe and conducive for all children. Finally, creating robust social safety nets is essential to shield vulnerable families from the shocks of poverty and economic instability, offering them a lifeline in times of need. These efforts, taken together, provide a pathway to a better future for Nigeria’s children and the nation as a whole.