Nigeria severely underinvesting in childhood development, jeopardising future economy, Experts Warn

Despite a 300% return on investment that Early Childhood Development (ECD) offers, Nigeria is falling drastically short in funding and prioritising the critical 0 to 5 age window, keeping millions of children from reaching their full physical and cognitive potential, experts have warned.

According to data presented at a Gateeld briefing on Early Childhood Development, the first five years of a child’s life involve the formation of one million neural connections every second. Yet, Nigeria is missing this irreversible window of brain development due to fragmented budget allocations, insecurity, and an over-reliance on foreign interventions.

Globally, the picture shows that investing in ECD yields massive economic and social dividends: an average return of $13 for every $1 invested. In Nigeria, however, interventions are heavily centralised in urban areas, leaving rural divides wide open and stunting the growth potential of the nation’s future workforce.

“The brain is being built right now, from conception up to age five. What happens or fails to happen in this period of a child’s life can shape that individual for life,” Megor, Founder of Omugo Academy, said.

“ECD is not charity; it is neuroscience, it is economics, and it is very important to national interest. It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men,” she added.

Omei Bongos, Public Health Lead at Gateeld, stated that 90% of a child’s brain is already built by the time they reach age five. According to her, investments made at this time shape what they become over time.

Early childhood development in Nigeria faces a severe crisis driven by regional inequality, widespread malnutrition, chronic insecurity, and systemic underfunding. A “geographical lottery” severely impacts cognitive outcomes, with basic literacy for children under five dropping from 65% in the South to just 10% in the Northwest, according to Gatefeild.

This divide is worsened by high malnutrition rates, causing irreversible stunting, alongside “toxic stress” from constant insurgencies that fundamentally alter brain architecture. Compounding these physical and psychological traumas is a critical lack of dedicated state budgets, leaving millions of vulnerable children without essential early support,” the organisation added.

To address these concerns, Hope Lekwa, researcher at Gateeld, said Nigeria cannot depend on foreign funding or interventions for its own childhood development. “We don’t necessarily have or discuss early childhood development as a national emergency, but as the data shows, it clearly is.”

Stakeholders called for the immediate, multi-sectoral integration of the World Bank and the WHO’s Nurturing Care Framework. They also urge ld policymakers to leverage existing platforms, such as integrating community health extension workers (CHEWs) directly into early learning centres.