Victoria Mbangwa
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that despite years of investment and increasing school enrollment in Nigeria’s northeast, an alarming number of children remain educationally stunted, with 72 per cent of primary school graduates unable to read simple texts.
Describing children as Nigeria’s “untapped natural treasure,” UNICEF’s Officer-in-Charge of the Maiduguri Field Office, Joseph Senesie, sounded the alarm during a press briefing in Maiduguri to mark this year’s Children’s Day celebration.
“Despite improvements in school enrollments, an estimated 2 million children remain out of school in the region. Moreover, 72 per cent of the children who completed primary school cannot read simple texts, and only 62 per cent transition to Junior Secondary School,” Senesie said.
The statistics are sobering. In Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa three states heavily impacted by conflict and poverty an estimated 2 million children remain out of school. Of those who complete primary school, less than two-thirds (62%) move on to junior secondary education.
Senesie stressed that access alone is no longer enough. “We need to shift the focus from just enrollment to quality education. Literacy is the foundation without it, children are denied a future.”
Beyond education, children in the region face multiple layers of vulnerability. Only 30 per cent have birth certificates, stripping them of their legal identity and blocking access to essential services like healthcare and formal schooling.
Health indicators are equally troubling: 12 local government areas in Borno and Yobe continue to report high numbers of unvaccinated children, exposing them to preventable diseases like polio and measles. Yet, in 2024, UNICEF made progress by immunising 1.2 million children with the pentavalent vaccine and treating nearly 600,000 for severe acute malnutrition.
Despite these efforts, Senesie said more must be done to remove the structural barriers that keep children locked in cycles of poverty, illiteracy, and poor health.
Encouragingly, he commended the governments of the Northeast for their growing commitment to child development, citing efforts like the implementation of the Child Protection Law, open defecation-free status in five LGAs, and Borno’s N100 million contribution to the Child Nutrition Fund.
“These actions demonstrate political will and leadership. However, we must maintain and build on this momentum. Let us seize this moment to tackle barriers to nutrition, immunisation, birth registration, education, child protection, water, and sanitation,” he added.
UNICEF expressed appreciation to its international partners, including BMZ/Germany, FCDO/UK Government, SIDA, EU, Norway, Canada, GPE, and ECW, for supporting child-centered interventions in the region.
