The United Nations Children’s Fund has unveiled plans to sharpen its child protection interventions in Nigeria, placing child abuse, child marriage and poor birth registration at the centre of its new country strategy as it seeks to reach millions of vulnerable children still excluded from essential services.
The organisation said the new priorities would shape its 2028–2032 Country Programme and strengthen government-led systems to ensure more Nigerian children are protected from violence, exploitation and harmful practices.
Speaking at the opening of UNICEF Nigeria’s Child Protection Mid-Year Review and consultations for the development of the new country programme in Abuja, the organisation’s Chief of Child Protection, Natalie McCauley, said evidence must drive future interventions rather than programme outputs alone.
According to a copy of her presentation made available to our correspondent on Friday, official national data show that six in 10 Nigerian children experience some form of abuse, while only two in five children under the age of five have their births registered, with significant disparities between urban and rural areas. She added that two in five young women in Nigeria were married before the age of 18, underscoring the need for stronger action.
