By Ijeoma Ukazu |
53 percent of Nigeria’s total population are children who are constantly faced with challenges arising from economic, security and political.
These children often times are exposed to extreme situation of violence due to ongoing military, political and ethnic conflicts, hence, many suffer abuse as a result of prevailing social norms and harmful practices.
Many more of these children suffer from exploitation and neglect arising from social and economic conditions, ailing economy and extreme distortion of wealth distribution.
Having a measure for the first time, the volume and distribution of public expenditure to prevent and respond to these harms experienced by children has giving the federal and state governments of Nigeria a clearer understanding of the degree to which, and how the Child Protection, (CP) services are resourced.
A new survey “Financial Benchmark for Child Protection in Nigeria” launched Recently in Lagos reports that, the federal and four state governments on average in 2014 and 2015 indicates that, about 0.31 percent of the budget is spent on child protection.
This means that for every N100 spent per person in Nigeria, 31 Kobo was spent per child on Child Protection services while the estimated total consolidated child protection expenditure on average in 2014 and 2015 as 10.1 billion or 0.16 percent of consolidated federal and state expenditure minus debt services costs.
This translates into an estimated N109.26 per child spent on child protection on average in the years.
The National consolidated benchmark is estimated based on data collected on child protection expenditure by the Federal and state government of Cross River, Gombe, Lagos and Plateau.The study calculated benchmarks and conducted analysis on the distribution of expenditure for each of these government.
The survey highlighted the need for paradigm shift in the federal government expenditure as evidence from the report shows that about 83 percent of consolidated national expenditure on child protection services was estimated to be on prevention services and three percent for activities that were classified as having elements of both prevention and response services.
For Nigeria to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of ending Violence Against Children (VAC) by 2030, the federal government would need to increase spending for child protection services in both prevention and response services.
Pesenting the survey, The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) official Miss Juliane Koenig, who represented the consultants of the survey stated that, “if an additional N3.4 billion, representing 0.1 percent of the consolidated child protection expenditure of Nigeria’s budget be allocated for child protection services, it would increase total consolidated child protection expenditure by 63 percent.”
At the launch of the
two survey documents, “A Financial Benchmark for Child Protection, Nigeria Study, Volume 1” and “The Economic Burden of Violence Against Children”, Koenig decried that Nigeria loses about N1.4 trillion annually to Violence against Children (equivalent to 1.6 percent of her Gross Domestic Profit).
Koenig said the two surveys were embarked by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and supported by UNICEF to reduce the economic burden of VAC in Nigeria.
As she calls for urgent increased spending on Child Protection Services, Koenig says the analysis of the economic costs shows that violence against children carries a considerable burden in Nigeria.
“The findings provide a strong evidence-base for urgent prioritised development and funding of interventions by all stakeholders for the reduction of violence against children.
“The adverse consequences of childhood violence affect not only children as individuals, but by extension, families, communities and societies.
“Nigeria’s future economic growth and development, may unfortunately, be compromised if sustained, commuted support and resources to Nigeria’s Child protective systems are not secured.
“These systems are essential in the identification and prevention of suspected cases involving violence against children as well as to ensure immediate access to health and protective services for victims when warranted,” The UNICEF official stated.
On the effects of childhood violence, Ms Koenig said it was associated with poor physical and mental health as well as educational attainment in Nigeria which according to her, are vital components of a country’s economic growth and development.
Also speaking, UNICEF’s Child Protection Specialist Lagos, Mr Denise Onoise, explained that there was need for “Call to Action” by governments and stakeholders to add child protection budget line to national chart of accounts.
According to him, there is also need to formalise an End VAC National Act Plan and establish VAC helpline, adding that these will improve the delivery of child protection services across the country.
Onoise said based on the study, currently, only 14 percent of child protection expenditure in Nigeria was devoted to critical prevention services, hence the needed strong shift in budget allocation and expenditure toward prevention services to create a more holistic child protection system.
Commenting, the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Mrs Bola Balogun, commended the efforts put into the reports.
Balogun said the findings in the assessments serve as a wakeup call for all stakeholders to go back to the drawing board and chart a new course toward increased funding for child protection.
Also lending her voice, Mrs Grace Obi-Ukpabi of the Federal Ministry of Budget and National Planning, Abuja, said investments on human beings have accrued benefits.
She said, “if we refuse to invest in our children, we are giving the future a bleak look because what we do to our children, we indirectly do to ourselves.
“As Nigerians, we must invest in our heritage because it is this investment that will yield quantifiable returns towards growth in the economy.
“As an essential part of the National Campaign, the study is targeted to increase the level of awareness on public fund allocations for Child Protection services across the Federal Ministries, Department, Agencies and four pilot states.”
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