64 million Nigerian children are multidimensionally poor – MICS

The Nigeria Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) 2021 has shown that nothing less than 64 million Nigerian children are multidimensionally poor.

This figure represents 53.9 per cent of Nigerian children who were multidimensionally poor facing at least three deprivations simultaneously.

However, speaking in a two-day media dialogue on addressing child poverty in Gombe on Tuesday, Dr Yusuf Auta, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)’s Social Policy Specialist, Bauchi Field Office, said UNICEF aimed to reduce the figure by at least half (27.0 per cent) by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goals 1.2.

He called on the representatives of media organizations present at the media dialogue to engage the Nigerian governments and policy makers to put all hands on deck in order to end child poverty in the country.

The UNICEF Specialist explained that any child that lacks access to Water, Education, Health among other basic amenities like housing, sanitation, access to information, among others, is regarded as poor.

“That is why we are here together with you so that we can begin to engage with policy makers so that we can make decisions that will favourably decide the future of our children.

“A child who is well immunized, educated, well fed, well brought up in a very clean and good environment has a better chance in life than a child who did not have all these.

“Child poverty is the inability of a child to have access to basic consumption needs while multidimensional child poverty is the non-fulfillment of child rights to survival, health, education, nutrition development, protection, and participation,” he said.

In his presentation, Dr Ali-Madina Dankumo from the Department of Economics and Development Studies, Federal University, Kashere in Gombe state also urged journalists to intensify reportage on consequences of Child Poverty in Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe states.

He revealed that the World Bank 2023 statistics shows that 40 million children in Nigeria are living in Poverty, adding that the statistics called for a collective action to uplift the social status of Nigerian children.

“Media advocacy should be employed by media outlets; monitoring and evaluation of government commitments to support the vulnerable children; promoting platforms for dialogue among stakeholders,” he said.

He listed the causes of child poverty to include; unemployment, low wages, Rapid Population Development, Conflicts, insufficient access to Education and Health, Government policies, bad governance, among others.

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