UNICEF Advocates Social Welfare Policies To Address Child Poverty

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has expressed concern on the rate of poverty in the country, pointing out that children are also affected negatively.

The organisation made the expression during a media dialogue organised for journalists from Gombe, Adamawa and Bauchi states on child poverty, held at Evolution Hotel, Gombe.

A facilitator at the event, Dr Ali Madina Dankumo of the Federal University Kashere while presenting a lecturer titled “The Effects Of Child Poverty On Socio-economic Development Of Nigeria” decried that children from poor families have their social and educational development impeded.

According to him, a 2023 UNICEF report indicates that about 333 million children equivalent to 1 in 6 live in extreme poverty globally.

He corroborated that a World Bank 2023 survey also shows that not fewer than 40 million children in Nigeria live in poverty.

He enumerated the causes of child poverty to include unemployment, low wages, rapid population growth, conflict, climate-related disasters, inadequate social safety nets and investments in Social Protection Policy, insufficient access to education and healthcare.

Other factors the facilitator mentioned were family size and structure, systemic inequalities, government policies such as subsidy removal on essential commodities, bad governance which affects heads of households and by extension, their children.

Dankumo tasked media practitioners to play some roles in addressing child poverty by creating awareness, advocacy and campaigning, holding government and policymakers accountable for their commitments to addressing child poverty by exposing corruption, inefficiency and lack of transparency in the implementation of poverty reduction policies, putting pressure on authorities to take action.

He also asked the government to come up with, and implement more social welfare policies with a view to making life better for children.