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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja;
New reports from the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) have revealed that Nigerian children are getting poorer and also lacking opportunity of getting a better life and future, noting that Nigeria would need as roughly as one trillion naira to lift children out of poverty.
The three reports: The Situation Analysis of Children in Nigeria; the Multidimensional Child Poverty Analysis in Nigeria, and Monetary Child Poverty in Nigeria, prepared by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning in collaboration with UNICEF, was launched by Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, on Friday.
The Multidimensional Child Poverty Analysis revealed that approximately 54 per cent of children in Nigeria are multi dimensionally poor because they face, at least, three deprivations across seven dimensions of child rights including nutrition, healthcare, education, water, sanitation, adequate housing, and information.
The second Report, Monetary Child Poverty Report, showed that 47.4 per cent of children faces monetary poverty due to the fact that they live in households with expenditure is less than N376.5 a day.
The third Report, Situation Analysis of Children in Nigeria, indicated that child poverty rate is highest among children aged 16 and 17 years and least among children aged 0–5 years.
Meanwhile, the UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Peter Hawkins, in his remarks, described data as a critical item for effective budgeting and decision making, and data from the surveys together paint a picture of the situation for children and families in Nigeria.
