Nigeria

Nigeria has made incredible progress, but millions of children are still being left behind.

• More than half of the population are children. Despite the progress that has been made, high levels of inequality exist which prevents millions of children from surviving and reaching their full potential.
• One in four children under the age of five are stunted, with the highest rates of stunting in rural and remote areas. Neonatal mortality rates remain high, resulting in children dying within their first month of life.
• Children, especially those living in rural and remote areas, struggle to access quality education, and many do not receive any early education, which is critical for their development.
• The country is home to 10% of the world's out-of-school children (4.7 million in total), and over 60% of the population is living in extreme poverty.
• Many children are not attending school, with 27% of school-aged children out of school. For the children that are in school, they are failing to learn basic skills like reading and writing.
• Children continue to die from preventable diseases like pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, and malnutrition contributes to half of the deaths of children under five.
• Girls across Nigeria are experiencing gender-based violence, and many girls are being forced to marry as children. In the northern part of Nigeria, 48% of girls are married by the age of 15 and 78% are married by the age of 18. As a result, millions of girls end up dropping out of school.
• Children's lives are being impacted by conflict, violence and exploitation. Conflict has led to a collapse of public services like health, nutrition and education. 45% of health facilities and nearly half of schools in the state of Borno have been destroyed by the conflict.

Save the Children has been working in Nigeria since 2001 to ensure all children survive, learn and are protected.
  
We protect children from all forms of violence, especially girls, orphans, vulnerable children and children affected by conflict. Our programmes work from the community to the national level to promote children's rights and protection. We also campaign to ensure that girls have equal access to education and are protected from child marriage. We support in strengthening the health systems at all levels of government and building the capacity of health workers to treat and prevent malnutrition, and deliver low-cost interventions that save newborn lives. 

We also support ensuring that all children are immunized and Save the Children is one of the key responders to emerging threats of clinical outbreaks in the country. We also advocate for increased government investment in health and nutrition. Furthermore, we support households, communities, schools, health facilities etc to promote access to adequate Water Sanitation and Hygiene services. We are increasing access to safe, quality and gender-responsive, including early childhood care, working with various government and community stakeholders to strengthen educational systems,  We also work to address the causes of poverty and mitigate their impact on children, by strengthening the livelihoods and resilience of households.

Our humanitarian work provides food, cash and voucher assistance and essential non-food items to households exposed to conflict and natural disasters. We also provide child-friendly spaces where children can learn, plan and receive the support they need to recover from trauma. We also set up temporary learning spaces and support the re-enrollment of out of school children so that all children can have an education.