Study warns millions of children caught in conflict, displacement and hunger are being overlooked in government budgets; journalists launch accountability network to push for reforms
By Danjuma AMODU
Nigeria’s youngest and most vulnerable children are being failed by a financing system that does not even recognise them in public budgets, a new report has warned, raising fresh concerns over the country’s worsening humanitarian and human capital crisis.
The report, Financing Early Childhood Development in Crisis (ECDiC) in Nigeria: From Fiscal Invisibility to Child-Level Results, was released in Abuja on Wednesday by the Moving Minds Alliance (MMA) in partnership with Whole Child Advisors.
It paints a grim picture of how children aged zero to eight years living in conflict, displacement, climate emergencies and poverty are largely excluded from government financing, despite overwhelming evidence that the early years determine a child’s lifelong prospects.
According to the report, Nigeria’s Human Capital Index stands at just 0.36. This means a child born today is expected to achieve only 36 per cent of their productive potential due to poor health, inadequate nutrition and weak learning outcomes.
The findings come at a time when Nigeria continues to grapple with one of Africa’s largest humanitarian emergencies. Insurgency in the North-East, widespread banditry and communal violence across the North-West and North-Central, alongside climate-induced disasters and economic hardship, have displaced millions and disrupted access to healthcare, nutrition and education for children.
The report estimates that 4.9 million children require life-saving humanitarian assistance, while 3.6 million people were forcibly displaced in 2025. It also notes that about 31 million Nigerian children are under the age of five, with between 33.8 and 40 per cent suffering from stunting — an indication of chronic malnutrition that permanently affects brain development and future productivity.
It further revealed that severe acute malnutrition cases surged to about 1.8 million children in 2025, representing a 69 per cent increase over previous estimates. Nigeria’s under-five mortality also remains among the highest globally at 105 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Despite these alarming indicators, the report found that Early Childhood Development in Crisis (ECDiC) has no dedicated budget line in either federal or state budgets, effectively rendering vulnerable children “fiscally invisible.”
The analysis identified five major weaknesses responsible for the financing gap: the absence of dedicated budget lines, poor implementation of approved budgets, fragmented funding channels, recurrent expenditure that crowds out essential child services, and an uneven distribution of humanitarian resources.
Resources are heavily concentrated in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, leaving crisis-hit communities in the North-West and North-Central with inadequate support.
The report also noted that less than five per cent of education spending benefits early childhood or emergency learning programmes. It concluded that the existing financing framework prioritises institutions rather than children’s actual needs.
“The system is built to fund structures, not children.”
— Financing Early Childhood Development in Crisis Report, MMA
The report warned that Nigeria cannot realise its human capital ambitions without creating a financing architecture capable of delivering predictable resources directly to frontline services supporting young children in emergencies.
To reverse the trend, it recommended seven urgent reforms. These include establishing a federal policy framework for ECDiC, introducing dedicated budget tags across federal and state budgets, protecting fund releases, simplifying financing channels, expanding results-based financing tied to measurable child outcomes, redistributing resources according to vulnerability rather than geography, and creating a blended investment mechanism involving government, humanitarian agencies and philanthropic organisations.
Speaking at the launch, the Nigeria ECDiC Coalition Coordinator, Arome Agenyi, stressed that the future of millions of Nigerian children depends on decisions taken today.
“Behind every successful adult is an early childhood story. The question is not whether children are developing; they are. The question is whether they are developing to their full potential.”
— Arome Agenyi, Nigeria ECDiC Coalition Coordinator
As part of efforts to sustain public attention, the Moving Minds Alliance also inaugurated the Nigerian chapter of the Reporters for Early Childhood in Humanitarian Crisis (REACH) Network. The network brings together journalists committed to evidence-based reporting on children affected by humanitarian emergencies.
Global Co-Chair of the REACH Network, Mojeed Alabi, said children who are invisible in government budgets often become invisible in politics and public discourse.
“When children living through conflict, displacement, climate shocks and economic hardship become fiscally invisible, they also risk becoming politically invisible.”
— Mojeed Alabi, Global Co-Chair, REACH Network
Interim Director and Co-Chair of the Moving Minds Alliance, Dr. Katie Murphy, described the report as the clearest roadmap yet for reforming child financing in Nigeria.
“This new report gives us something we haven’t had before: a clear picture of where Nigeria’s investment in its youngest children in crisis is falling short, and exactly what it will take to close that gap.”
— Dr. Katie Murphy, Co-Chair, Moving Minds Alliance
Murphy added that the planned Act for Early Years Financing Summit in 2027 would seek commitments from governments, donors and development partners to move from fragmented financing to a system that delivers resources directly to children.
The coalition hopes that by 2028, both federal and state governments will have introduced dedicated ECDiC budget tags, released at least 70 per cent of allocated funds annually, and achieved measurable improvements in child development outcomes across local government areas.
For child development advocates, the report is more than a financial audit. It is a warning that unless Nigeria changes how it invests in children during their earliest years, particularly those growing up amid conflict and displacement, the country risks entrenching poverty, inequality and lost human potential for generations.
