The United Nations demands every country to ensure that children have access to healthcare and education as basic rights.
According to the International body, this is an important step towards tackling malnutrition, educational disparities, and other forms of child rights violations which are on the increase in Nigeria.
Nigeria has 10.5 million out-of-school children, 40 percent of whom are between the ages of six and eleven and, particularly among girls, do not attend any elementary schools, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
UNICEF identifies inadequate nutrition and lack of education as the primary factors contributing to violations of children’s rights.
Sadly, the Children Agency estimates that of the 10.5 million out-of-school Nigerian children, 40 percent of them who are between the ages of six and eleven are from the North, and they are mainly girls.
In addition, of the two million Nigerian children who are suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), just around two out of ten receive treatment.
Similarly, seven percent of pregnant women and seven percent of women who are of reproductive age suffer from acute malnutrition. It is not therefore surprising, though unfortunate that only 17 percent of infants are exclusively breastfed during the first six months of life in Nigeria. Regrettably, too, the statistic hasn’t changed much in the past ten years. Only 18 percent of infants between the ages of six and 23 months receive the most basic nutrition.
The nutrition budget continues to be underfunded and delayed at all levels, despite global warnings that hunger is a critical developmental issue that jeopardises a country’s future and GDP. The adoption and full implementation of the Child Rights Act have been impeded by the purposeful creation of legal or policy restrictions in many states throughout Nigeria.
In light of this, experts have called for serious action to be taken to address unsolved or persistent issues that damage Nigerian children’s cognitive and physical development as well as their ability to have productive futures.
This includes their rights to a suitable diet and an education, as specified in the Child Rights Act. The detrimental effects of these indices on children, particularly girls, who will be denied employable skills, desirable jobs, and important contributions to the advancement of the nation, are equally distressing.
According to UNICEF, while the education crisis affects children across Nigeria, girls, children with disabilities, and those from the poorest households are increasingly affected.
Other children who are disproportionately impacted by the education issue include those who live on the streets, those who have experienced displacement or natural disasters, and those who reside in remote places.
It is unfortunate that millions of children in Nigeria have never entered a classroom. Perhaps even worse is the shocking number of children who enroll in school but never advanced from elementary to secondary education, destroying their dreams of a stable future. 35 percent of Nigerian pupils who finish elementary school do not go on to secondary education, according to estimates.
Cristian Munduate, the UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, said this recently in a statement honouring the International Day of Education.
Munduate stressed the need for girls to have an opportunity to attend school in order for them to have a formal education that confronts gender inequity. “We need to encourage their creativity and originality,” she continued, “since all females have a lot to contribute to fixing Nigeria’s challenges. “We also need to ensure that kids are safe at school. No child should be afraid to walk into a classroom because they think their school will be attacked or that they’ll be abducted,” the UNICEF Representative said. And no parent should be reluctant to enroll their children in school. No parent should be afraid to send their children to school either.
Munduate views corroborate with many researchers who have stressed the importance of expanding educational opportunities for all Nigerian children and eradicating gaps in educational enrollment and achievement.
Nigeria’s current policies must be strengthened to tackle severe acute malnutrition among children under five, which presents as stunting, wasting, being underweight or overweight, and low productivity.
To promote children’s growth and development, Nigeria should ensure game-changing policy changes and well-intentioned advocacy activities at all levels which recognises key development indicators, such as healthcare and education for children, as fundamental child rights.
Promoting a secure and viable future for Nigerian children through targeted programmes and activities, as well as a strategic focus, is equally crucial. This is the right time to implement existing nutrition policies, like the National Policy on Food and Nutrition.
Similarly, it is crucial to adopt comprehensive approaches to preventing and treating severe acute malnutrition (SAM), as well as providing adequate budgetary allocation, cash-backing, and prompt release of nutrition funding.
Obviously, improving food accessibility, availability, and accessibility at all levels urgently requires significant legislative monitoring of budgetary allocations for agriculture, nutrition, and the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.
Experts are pleading with all states to enact and fully implement the Child Right Act, which requires that every child receive free, mandatory, and universal basic education and that every parent or guardian make sure that their child or ward attends and completes primary and junior secondary school.
Increased educational access, the eradication of educational enrolment inequities, and increased public awareness of the requirements of the Child Rights Act must become matters of urgent national concern. The time to act is now.
