Experts have identified
inflation, subsidy removal and insurgency as the major drivers of child
poverty, particularly in the Northern Eastern region of Nigeria.
A Social Policy
Specialist with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Bauchi Field
Office, Dr Yusuf Auta, made the observation on Wednesday in a paper he
presented on multidimensional child poverty in Adamawa, Gombe and Bauchi States
during a 2-day Media Dialogue in Gombe State.
The dialogue is organised by UNICEF in partnership with the Gombe and Bauchi
governments as part of efforts to address the problem of child poverty in the
North East, Dailypost reports.
Auta listed other factors such as unemployment, inadequate investment in social sectors, insufficient income, and high living costs associated with child-rearing, including housing, food, and fuel expenses, as contributing factors to child poverty.
According to him, children face both dimensional and multidimensional poverty, affecting areas such as water, sanitation, housing, access to information, nutrition, education, health, and child protection, as outlined in a situation analysis conducted in 2021.
On
his part, Dr Ali Madina Dankumo of the Department of Economics and Development
Studies, Federal University Kashere in Gombe State, identified the adverse
effects of bad governance on household heads, citing negative impacts on
children’s healthcare.
He
referenced data from the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency,
NPHCDA, indicating that 67 million children lack access to healthcare in
Nigeria as of 2022.
Dr.
Dankumo underscored how poverty hampers children’s access to quality education
and restricts their social mobility, thereby fostering crime and social unrest.
Recall
that the 2022 reports of the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, revealed that
child poverty is particularly prevalent in rural areas, with nearly 90% of
rural children experiencing poverty.
The child multidimensional poverty index, MPI, indicates higher poverty rates in the northeast and northwest regions (where 90% of children are poor) and comparatively lower rates in the southeast and southwest regions (74% and 65.1% respectively).