Nigeria’s children deserve better: CHRICED calls for urgent action on malnutrition, street begging

Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) urged the Nigerian government to take immediate and decisive action to address the dire realities facing millions of Nigerian children.

As the country commemorates Children’s Day, CHRICED highlighted the need for bold and lasting reforms to protect children’s rights and ensure they have access to necessities like food, education, healthcare, and protection from abuse.

According to the group, Program Communications Officer, Furera Isiaka, while some celebrate in joy, countless others—especially in Northern Nigeria—suffer from chronic malnutrition, forced street begging, and systemic neglect that robs them of education, dignity, and hope.

The Federal, state, and local governments, alongside traditional and religious leaders, must rise to the occasion and implement lasting solutions.

Despite Nigeria’s commitments, malnutrition remains a national crisis, affecting over 11 million under-five children. According to UNICEF, 37% of Nigerian children are stunted, while 18% are wasted, locking them into a vicious cycle of poor health, poverty, and reduced opportunities. While budgetary allocations have increased, rising inflation and currency fluctuations threaten to erode progress.

CHRICED demands urgent and sustained investment in food security, ensuring Nigerian children have consistent access to nutritious meals. Failure to act now will condemn an entire generation to preventable suffering.

From religious learning to systemic neglect. Originally designed to instill discipline and religious knowledge, the Almajiri system has deteriorated into an alarming cycle of child neglect and exploitation. Instead of receiving education and care, Almajiri children—some as young as three years old—are forced into the streets to beg, hawk, and engage in menial labor, exposing them to abuse, trafficking, and unimaginable hardships.

These children are not the problem—they are victims of failed policies, weak enforcement, and societal neglect. Nigeria’s Child Rights Act of 2003 and commitments to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child must be fully implemented.

CHRICED condemned one-off evacuations and reactive measures—like those seen during COVID-19 and recent forced removals by Hisbah—as ineffective and unjust. The nation must address systemic failures and reform informal education to ensure children receive proper care and opportunities.

CHRICED further demanded immediate, sustained, and accountable actions, on scaling up financing for nutrition programs under NMPFAN 2021–2025, ensuring access to fortified food, school meals, and direct support for vulnerable families.

A total reform of the Almajiri system, integrating formal education, vocational training, and modern curricula to equip children with lifelong skills and opportunities. Strict enforcement of regulations in informal education centers, guaranteeing minimum standards for food, shelter, supervision, and protection. Targeted social protection programs that provide economic support, healthcare, and family-strengthening services to prevent children from being forced onto the streets.

Also, accountability mechanisms hold violators of child rights—including forced begging and neglect—to full legal consequences. Comprehensive data systems to track and support Almajiri and street children, ensuring policy efforts are evidence-based and measurable.

Community mobilization efforts, urging traditional rulers, religious leaders, and civil society to champion child rights reforms. Investment in rehabilitation and reintegration, including psychosocial support, education, vocational training, and safe spaces to prepare children for productive futures.

Children are not burdens to be abandoned—they are the foundation of Nigeria’s future.

This Children’s Day must be a turning point, where hollow promises are replaced with bold and lasting reforms.