Child Poverty in Nigeria: Analysis of Causes and Government Policies

This report provides an analysis of child poverty in Nigeria, examining the country's demographics, political background, and welfare systems. It explores the increasing poverty rates, inflation, and unemployment, highlighting their impact on children, particularly those aged 0-5. The report delves into the government's initiatives, including free education, healthcare, and various poverty alleviation programs like the Child Rights Act. It discusses the challenges faced, such as social issues and economic structures, concluding with recommendations for reducing poverty through focused interventions on population control, employment generation, and economic growth. The report references various sources including books, journals, and online resources to support its findings and recommendations.

CHILD POVERTY IN NIGERIA

TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHILD POVERTY IN NIGERIA...................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSON ................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Children are very important part of the society. Their welfare is of core significance for
the development of society. Nigeria is the middle income country with mixed economy. It tries
to expand its financial, communication, entertainment and technological sectors. Economy of
Nigeria is struggling with an aim to reduce the poverty which is affecting around 33% of the
population. In this project report, demographic structure of Nigeria is analysed in order to find
out the poverty rate of Nigeria. Along with this, factors that can are responsible for increasing the
poverty is also depicted. In addition to this, measures that are taken into consideration to remove
the child poverty are also mentioned.
Demographics of Nigeria
Nigeria is one of the developing country in Africa whose population density is constantly
increasing. In lieu of which it is expected that country is trying to build up a prosperous
economy. Demographic feature of Nigeria includes the population density, education level,
economic status, health of the people and many more things. Nigeria provides free education to
the children but this proves to be ineffective as there is no strict rule regarding the compulsory
attendance (Umaru. and Zubairu, 2012). The Nigeria education system consists of primary
school, secondary schools, senior secondary school and kindergarten.
Nigeria population increases to 3.10% in 2015 as compared to first quarter of this year.
Nigeria Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rate increases in 2015 as compared to previous years.
This in turn indicates that government of Nigeria is able to reduce the rate of poverty in child in
2015. In addition to this, it has been found that rate of inflation of Nigeria has also been
increased as compared to previous years. Increased inflation rate will increase the cost of goods
and services. This in turn will generate more poverty (Child rights and participation. 2007).
While on the other hand, population rate has also increased from 143.33millions to 178.52
million.
Thus, it is important for the Nigeria to attract more and more foreign investors which in
turn will help the country to generate more income. If high income is generate then in that case
government of Nigeria will also be able to reduce the rate of poverty (Ikeme, Ezegwui, and
Uzodimma, 2005). Nigeria is also required to focus on the globalization and should focus on
utilizing the available resources to the full extent, so that the country is able to generate more

revenue by reducing its expenses. More emphasis on the international trade will also built up the
wealth of the economy. This in turn will generate more profit.
Figure 1: GDP growth
(Source: Trading Economics. 2016)
In addition to this it has been found that rate of inflation of the Nigeria has also been
increased as compared to previous years. Increased inflation rate will increase the cost of goods
and services (Anger, 2010). This in turn will generate more poverty. While on the other hand
population rate of has also increased from 143.33millions to 178.52 million.

(Source: (Economic effect of unemployment in the Nigeria Economy. 2013)
Political background of the Nigeria
Nigeria politics framework comprises of federal, presidential and political republic. In
this, all the powers and rights are exercised by the government of Nigeria. Legislative power is
controlled by the House of Representatives and the Senate (Ucha, 2010). The biggest judiciary
arm of government is Supreme Court of Nigeria. The law of Nigeria is based on the British
common law. The constitutional framework is handled by the constitution of Nigeria (Economic
effect of unemployment in the Nigeria Economy. 2013.). Therefore, it has been found that
political condition of Nigeria is not stable. Its rate of inflation, unemployment and poverty is
constantly increasing. High increase in inflation and unemployment rate results in the increase
in the level of poverty especially among the children of age group of 0-5 years. Besides this it
has also been found that rate of male population is high as compare to population of female. The
ratio among male and female is good.
It has also been found out that the rate of poverty among the people of Nigeria has been
constantly increasing. Poverty ratio has been increased among 100 million individual persons
(Ezeah and Roberts, 2012). The national Bureau of Statistics has found out that Nigeria is one of
the country living in absolute rate of poverty. They has also analyses that this rate of poverty can
further be increased in upcoming years from 57%.
Therefore, with an aim to reduce the rate of poverty among the children especially of age
group of 0-5 years certain measures have been taken into consideration by the government of
Nigeria. They have started developing various programs in order to reduce the rate of poverty.
Illustration 1: population density graph of Nigeria

Nigeria welfare system and provision
For the welfare of the children, Nigerian government has started providing free education
to the children. They have opened various schools for them. But, in its contrary, no records have
been maintained for the presence of the children at these schools (Anyanwu, 2005). Furthermore,
in order to improve the condition of the society, Child's Rights Act 2003 have been established
in order to provide various rights to children like every child has the right to survive, freedom to
choose his/her family and religion, right to educate and many more.
In addition to this, they have also started providing various health and medical facilities to small
children up to age of five years (Impact of Unemployment on Nigerian Economic Development:
A Study of Selected Local Government Area in Anambra State, Nigeria. 2014). Government has
started providing free vaccination, medicines to the small children and treatment for any type of
diseases. This has been made free of cost for the children up to the age of five years.
Government has also started increasing the agricultural productivity in rural area with an
aim to reduce the poverty. The level of poverty can only be improved if government and non-
government organization start focusing more on the factors that are increasing the level of
poverty (The Effect of Poverty on Education in Nigeria: Obstacles and Solutions. 2010). Apart
from this, various programs and projects have been started with an aim to reach the poor people
and children.
The programs started were National Directorate of Employment(NDE), Directorate for
food roads and Rural Infrastructure(DFRRI), national agriculture land development
authority(NALDA), The primary Health Care Scheme(PHCS, The Guinea Worm Eradication
Program, the community bank scheme and national poverty eradication program(NAPEP),
Poverty Alleviating Program (PAP), national Directorate of Employment(NDE) (Jones and
Klenow. 2011), The nomadic Education program, The federal Mass Transit program and many
more programs. These all programs highly concentrate on reducing the poverty among the child
and to overcome various child related issues. The major aim fir establishment of this programs
is to reduce the rate of poverty among the children (Okpukpara and Odurukwe, 2006).
Apart from this various policies has been set up by the government of Nigeria with an
aim to reduce the poverty among the children especially of age group of 0-5 years (Trading
Economics. 2016). One of the major act in regard to this is “Child Rights Act, 2013”. In addition

to this Colonial administration equipped a ten year plan for the development and welfare of the
society in Nigeria.
Besides this, they have also started providing free food to the children of age below five
years. Government has started providing one time free meal to the small children as well (The
Effect of Poverty on Education in Nigeria: Obstacles and Solutions. 2010). Therefore, in order
to reduce the rate of poverty among the children up to the age of five years, different types of
ministry have been set up to handle the working of various systems. Hence, in order to handle
the education system in Nigeria, ministry of education has set the national minimum standards
on Early Child Care Centres (ECCC) in Nigeria (Onitiri and et.al., 2005). This centre takes care
whether the primary standard set by the government are followed by the public or not. The data
has been collected by this centre evaluates that the standard of primary education has been
decline as compared to that expected.
Apart from this there are some of the issues that are faced by the Nigeria. One of the
important issues that is faced by the Nigeria is social issue which in turn is increasing the rate of
poverty. The lower per capita income of the Nigeria is causing a huge problem for the country
(Poverty in Nigeria: Some dimensions and contributing factors. 2010.). the basic economic
structure and weak social relations is one of the main cause of generating the poverty. Increase
difference in population rate is also one of the issue that is faced by the Nigeria. Large number of
population within the Nigeria is causing increase in number of unemployment which in turn is
causing poverty.
CONCLUSON
Thus, on the basis of the above analyses it can be concluded that Nigeria financial
condition is good. The rate of poverty has been increasing at a rapid speed. In addition to this
rate of inflation and unemployment rate has also being increasing. The government and various
ministry has started various programs and policies in order to reduce the poverty among the
children especially between the ages of 0-5 years. It has interpreted that the rate of population is
also increasing which in turn is generating more poverty. Along with this it has also been found
that the population of male is more as compared to that off of females.

Therefore, at last it is suggested that government and ministry of Nigeria should focus on
reducing the rate of population, inflation and unemployment. Nigeria should also concentrate on
increasing its financial position by generating more employment.

REFERENCES
Books & journals
Anger, B., 2010. Poverty eradication, Millennium development goals and sustainable
development in Nigeria. Journal of sustainable development,3(4), p.138.
Anyanwu, J.C., 2005. Rural poverty in Nigeria: Profile, determinants and exit paths. African
Development Review, 17(3), pp.435-460.
Ikeme, A.C.C., Ezegwui, H.U. and Uzodimma, A.C., 2005. Knowledge, attitude and use of
emergency contraception among female undergraduates in Eastern Nigeria. Journal of
obstetrics and gynaecology, 25(5), pp.491-493.
Okpukpara, B.C. and Odurukwe, N., 2006. Incidence and determinants of child labour in
Nigeria: Implications for poverty alleviation.
Ucha, C., 2010. Poverty in Nigeria: Some dimensions and contributing factors. Global Majority
E-Journal, 1(1), pp.46-56.
Umaru, A. and Zubairu, A. A., 2012. Effect of Inflation on the Growth and Development of the
Nigerian Economy: An Empirical Analysis. International Journal of Business and Social
Science. 3(10).
Online
Child rights and participation. 2007. Available through:
<http://www.unicef.org/nigeria/children_1938.html> [Accessed on 9th March 2016].
Economic effect of unemployment in the Nigeria Economy. 2013. [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.doublegist.com/economic-effect-unemployment-nigeria-economy/>.
[Accessed on 3rd November 2015].
Ezeah, C. and Roberts, C. L., 2012. Analysis of barriers and success factors affecting the
adoption of sustainable management of municipal solid waste in Nigeria. Journal of
environmental management. 103. pp.9-14.
Impact of Unemployment on Nigerian Economic Development: A Study of Selected Local
Government Area in Anambra State, Nigeria. 2014. [Pdf]. Available through:
<http://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/EJBM/article/viewFile/17184/17975>.
[Accessed on 3rd November 2015].

Jones, C.I. and Klenow. P. J., 2011. Beyond GDP? Welfare across Countries and Time.
Available through: <http://cowles.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/lunch/klenow-
110907.pdf> [Accessed on 9th March 2016].
Onitiri, A. M. H. and et.al., 2005. Contemporary issues in the management of the Nigerian
economy. Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research.
Poverty in Nigeria: Some dimensions and contributing factors. 2010. [Pdf]. Available through:
<https://www.american.edu/cas/economics/ejournal/upload/Global_Majority_e_Journal_
1-1_Ucha.pdf>. [Accessed on 3rd November 2015].
The Effect of Poverty on Education in Nigeria: Obstacles and Solutions. 2010. [Online].
Available through: <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1666424>.
[Accessed on 3rd November 2015].
Trading Economics. 2016. Available through:
<http://www.tradingeconomics.com/nigeria/indicators> [Accessed on 9th March 2016].