Nigerians Lament Government's Poor Performance On Child Welfare, Say Vulnerable Children Can't Get Help

22 August 2024
Afrobarometer (Accra)
By Raphael Mbaegbu and Caroline Nakayiza

Majority of citizens endorse the use of corporal punishment, but opposition is growing.

Key findings

  • A majority (55%) of Nigerians say it is "sometimes" or "always" justified for parents to use physical force to discipline their children. o Opposition to corporal punishment has increased by 17 percentage points since 2017, from 28% to 45%. o More than four in 10 Nigerians (43%) say adults in their communities use physical force to discipline children "somewhat frequently" or "very frequently."
  • Nearly one-third (32%) of citizens say child abuse and neglect are frequent in their community, while a majority (52%) say children are often out of school.
  • Fewer than half of Nigerians say people in their community can usually get help for abused and neglected children (40%), children with disabilities (37%), and children and adults with mental or emotional problems (35%). o Among the poorest citizens, only one in 10 (11%) report that help is available for abused and neglected children in their community.
  • Most Nigerians (76%) judge the government's efforts to protect and promote the well being of vulnerable children as "fairly bad" or "very bad." o Approval of the government's performance is particularly low among citizens with post-secondary education (9%) and those experiencing high levels of lived poverty (10%).

Home to more than 110 million children, almost half of whom live in poverty, Nigeria faces enormous challenges in protecting and promoting child well-being (UNICEF, 2023; Save the Children, 2018; Nnama-Okechukwu & Erhumwunse 2021).

According to findings reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (2022), about one in 10 children in Nigeria die before their fifth birthday. Almost half of under-5 kids don't have birth certificates, and only about one-third of those aged 12-23 months have received all routine immunisations. Even though primary education is officially free and compulsory, one in four children of primary school age are not in school, and three in 10 children aged 5-17 are working under hazardous conditions (National Bureau of Statistics, 2022).

One-fourth of girls have suffered sexual violence (UNICEF, 2022a). Three-fourths of 10- to 14- year-olds report having experienced physical punishment during the previous month, including 32% who suffered "severe" punishment (National Bureau of Statistics, 2022).

About one in seven women have undergone female genital mutilation, and one-third (34%) of women aged 20-49 were married or in union before they turned 18.

While progress in the fight against these problems is slow and often marked by setbacks (UNICEF, 2024; Save the Children, 2018), the government and its partners push ahead with a range of social-welfare initiatives. In the health sector, for example, the government has successfully pursued a polio vaccination campaign (UNICEF, 2022b) and has shown political commitment and leadership in extending affordable primary health care services, including immunisations, in rural areas through implementation of the National Health Insurance Authority Bill and the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (National Primary Health Care Development Agency, 2024; World Health Organization, 2024).

This dispatch reports on a special survey module included in the Afrobarometer Round 9 (2021/2023) questionnaire to explore Africans' attitudes and perceptions related to child well-being. In Nigeria, findings show that a majority of citizens endorse the use of physical

force to discipline children, but opposition to the practice has increased sharply compared to 2017. Not quite half of respondents say adults in their community frequently resort to corporal punishment.

Citizens say out-of-school children and, to a smaller extent, abused and neglected children are a common problem in their community. Fewer than half of Nigerians say support for vulnerable children is available in their community, and most see the government as doing a poor job of protecting and promoting the well-being of vulnerable children.

Raphael Mbaegbu Raphael is a project manager for NOI Polls

Caroline Nakayiza Caroline Nakayiza is a sampling assistant at Hatchile Consult Ltd.

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

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