Nigeria’s nutrition and early childhood development (ECD) landscape came into sharp focus this week with the release of a new country report based on the General Household Survey – Panel (Wave 5).
The report, “Early Childhood Development in Nigeria: A Country Report on Early Childhood Development using the General Household Survey-Panel (Wave 5) 2023/2024” jointly developed by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and the World Bank derives from the Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS), which has been conducted by the NBS with technical assistance from the World Bank since 2009.
The LSMS represents the most comprehensive, nationally representative dataset to date on how Nigeria’s pre-school children are faring in the critical early years.
In his opening remarks, Director of Agriculture and Business Enterprises Unit, NBS, Dr. David Babalola, emphasized the significance of the GHS panel as a national resource, underscoring that survey tools have been iteratively improved to reflect critical issues such as childcare arrangements, climate shocks, and child development.
It was noted that GHS data, which collects panel survey from the same households over time, is widely used by policymakers, researchers, and international institutions with tens of thousands of downloads from the NBS portal.
Drawing from data collected in 2023 and 2024, this is the first time the report has included measures of pre-school early childhood development, and reveals strong correlations between health, nutrition, parenting and cognitive development in children aged 0 to 6.
The findings highlight five urgent areas of concern: the burden of malnutrition, early learning readiness, zonal disparities, maternal education, and the need for multisectoral responses.
One of the report’s most sobering statistics shows that only 4.5% of stunted children could write a simple word, compared to 20.9% of their non-stunted peers.
This underscores the cognitive costs of malnutrition, which affects brain development, memory, and attention span. In zones like the North East and North West where stunting exceeds 40%, early learning outcomes are alarmingly low, with fewer than 10% of children demonstrating basic literacy skills.
The report also disaggregates data by gender, geographical rural-urban location, and maternal education. In the key domains of literacy, numeracy, executive function, and social-emotional development—children in urban areas and those with more educated mothers consistently outperformed their peers. For example, the gap in writing ability between urban and rural children was as wide as 34 percentage points. Similarly, less than 10% of children in the North West and North East can write a simple word, compared to over 65% in the South West.
Executive function, often overlooked, is another area of concern. The ability to complete tasks, regulate behavior, and sustain attention are strongly linked to later school success, yet many children, particularly in under-resourced zones showed developmental delays in these areas.
Speaking on behalf of the World Bank, Practice Manager for Health, Nutrition and Population in West and Central Africa, Dr. Rifat Hasan, emphasized that education is good, but insufficient alone to transform the fortunes of young children.
“When a child is born in Nigeria, the clock starts ticking, from the mother’s womb and the first 1,000 days defines what’s possible for the rest of their life. The next 1,000 days enhance or further truncate their potential. Children who are undernourished, frequently ill, or inadequately stimulated at home often fail to benefit from early schooling, “ Dr. Hasan said.
The panel chaired by Dr. Gbemisola Oseni, LSMS Program Manager at the World included perspectives from Dr. Nathaniel Ayoola, Head of Early Childhood Care and Education at the University of Ondo, Dr. Ritgak Tilley-Gyado, Senior Health Specialist at the World Bank and Dr. Johnson Adegoke, from the Association of Educational Psychologists of Nigeria called for coordinated investments across health, nutrition, education, and social welfare. Dr. Oseni, a leading statistician globally, provided insights into the survey’s international comparability, and valuable local-context insights to guide policymakers, researchers, economists, and Early Childhood Development practitioners. Panelists made compelling submissions on the value addition of the survey to the nation’s human capital agenda.
Dr. Gyado raised a sense of urgency… “If we don’t act during this window, the first and second 1,000 days, the costs—economic and human—are staggering. This data shows us the direct negative impact of malnutrition on cognitive development and points us to the critical areas in which critical investments are required.”
The hope is that with better data, targeted multi-sectoral programming, and accountability, this trajectory can shift.
The report concludes with practical recommendations for policymakers: a sharper focus on nutrition as the foundation of human capital, integration of ECD into national development plans, shift from silo-ed to truly multisectoral approaches, tailor interventions by zone, a greater focus on equity and ensure frontline actors such as especially teachers and caregivers are equipped to understand the implications of their work on pre-school ECD.
Prof. Ben Obi from the University of Abuja applauded the National Bureau of Statistics for ensuring open access to the micro-data through its website and encouraged its continued use by policy makers and practitioners across all orders of government for further research and decision-making.
With the release of this report, Nigeria now has the evidence needed to act decisively. The challenge moving forward is not whether the data exists but whether it will be used to drive the future every Nigerian child deserves.
