The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that unless urgent action is taken, 420,000 children could die out of the 3.5 million currently battling severe acute malnutrition in Nigeria.
Nigeria Country Representative of UNICEF, Wafaa Elfadil Saeed Abdelatef, gave the warning during her visit to the Maiduguri Field Office on Thursday.
“Nigeria has 15 million malnourished children under five, and 3.5 million at risk of severe acute malnutrition. Of the 3.5 million at risk of severe acute malnutrition, 420,000 children could die in 2025 alone if nothing changes.
“Forty percent of under-fives are stunted—children who will never reach their full physical or cognitive potential if we do not act now,” she said.
Abdelatef said unless resources are mobilised quickly, Nigeria risks losing hundreds of thousands of children to hunger, preventable diseases, and lack of care.
She explained that UNICEF urgently requires more funding, locally produced food solutions, and expanded treatment centres to ensure that no child dies from malnutrition-related complications in the country.
She further noted that the Northeast remains gripped by a humanitarian crisis, with over 4.5 million people in dire need of assistance.
Abdelatef also highlighted Nigeria’s education crisis, pointing out that 18.3 million Nigerian children are currently out of school—10.2 million of them at primary school age and 8.1 million at junior secondary school age.
“That is nearly one in three Nigerian children. Every year, around 3.9 million fail to finish primary school, and 4.2 million fail to finish junior secondary school.
“Only 27% of children aged 7 to 14 can read with comprehension, and 75% cannot solve simple mathematics. The education crisis is both about access and quality.
“As I observed during this visit, we must support children to enroll in school and complete their studies. School enrollment and retention help delay early marriage and empower girls to make informed decisions about their health and future families,” she said.
On immunization and child survival, Abdelatef revealed that Nigeria has over 2.1 million zero-dose children—the highest figure in the world.
“Nearly one in three one-year-olds has never received a single vaccine, leaving them vulnerable to deadly but preventable outbreaks such as measles, diphtheria, meningitis, and circulating variants of polioviruses,” she said.
