Sponsor a Child in Nigeria

Some facts about Nigeria

Nigeria is a country located in West Africa.

With a total population of roughly 158 million, Nigeria is now one of the world's most populous nations and by far the most populous on the African continent.

Over 24 Nigerian cities have a population that exceeds 100,000 inhabitants. However, owing to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, life expectancy is fairly low and mortality rates remain high.

Nigeria is rich in petroleum, natural gas, tin and coal. Fuels and mining products account for roughly 97 % of all exports.

More than half of its people live in crippling poverty.

Nigeria is a prime example of the "resource curse": oil has not only boosted the GDP but also the occurrence of violence through the distortion of the national economy.

Decades of oil production have not resulted in much needed sustainable socioeconomic development and better living conditions for the majority of Nigerians.

The current poverty rate actually exceeds that of the period before the first oil boom in the 1970s.

Nigeria has become a major transit point for heroin and cocaine intended for the European, North American and East Asian markets.

Situation of the children in Nigeria

Around 15 million children under the age of 14 work in Nigeria, many of them under extremely hazardous conditions. They do so for little or no pay while missing out on a decent education.

The number of children engaged in labour activities has increased steadily since the 1970s, partly owing to the country's oil boom and high levels of poverty.

Children sell merchandise, shine shoes or wash feet in public spaces. Others work in agriculture or in the cotton industry where they are sometimes exposed to toxic fumes and dangerous machinery.

The number of orphaned children in the country has gone up to an estimated 12 million. Thousands roam the streets without having a place to sleep. They engage in petty crime or beg in order to survive.

In Nigeria, around 360,000 children live with HIV/AIDS.

The pandemic is one of the greatest threats to compliance with child rights.

Children whose parents are HIV-positive face multiple vulnerabilities, such as becoming infected themselves, the fear of losing parental care, social discrimination and neglect.

HIV/AIDS is a major cause of the deepening poverty in the country.

Human trafficking from Nigeria to Europe is another pressing issue.

Young Nigerian girls are trafficked to Western Europe every year. The majority of them are lured into commercial sex work with tales of riches in wealthy Europe. Experts say that child trafficking from Africa to Europe has become modern-day slavery.

Nigeria remains marked by a fairly high child mortality rate of 138 per 1,000 live births.

30 % of all Nigerian children under the age of five are underweight.

SOS Children’s Villages support Nigerian children and young people by providing loving homes, day care, education and vocational training in seven different locations (Ejibgo, Gwagwalada, Ibadan, Isolo, Jos, Kaduna, and Owu-Ijebu).

In 2004, an SOS Family Strengthening Programme was launched in order to support children who are at risk of losing parental care and enable them to grow up in their own families.