Nigeria unlikely to achieve preventable child deaths by 2030 – SCI

Save the Children International (SCI) says there are indications that Nigeria may not achieve quality education, non-tolerance to violence against children, and no under-five child death from preventable diseases by the year 2030.

The Chief Impact Officer of the organisation, Ebrima Saidy, made the disclosure yesterday in Abuja while briefing newsmen during his visit to Nigeria.

Save the Children International is a child-centered international organisation that has been saving the lives of children around the world for over 100 years, and has been working in Nigeria since 2001.

He said Nigeria and some others were way behind in achieving them, adding that there was a need for the government, development partners, and other stakeholders to do things differently in other to achieve the ambitions for children by the year 2030.

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He said the three indicators which were aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were also the organisation’s ‘Ambition for Children 2030’.

Saidy said, “It is clear that we may achieve some indicators like access to education, but we will not be able to achieve the indicators around quality education by the year 2030 not just in Nigeria, but also in many countries around the world. This is because of the quality of instruction, the resourcing of schools, resourcing of teachers, enabling environment for teachers to provide good quality education, and the infrastructure that is required.

“The situation is similar in the health sector. Our health systems may be strong in some states, but it’s relatively weak in other states.”

He said the organization’s stabilization centres for children suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition in Maiduguri had recorded a 95% success rate in treating children and releasing them back to their households and communities.

He added that the organisation was optimistic that the boundaries could be pushed as best as possible even if all the indicators were not achieved.

He said the visit was a learning experience and that Save the Children International was going through a strategy refresh process, on achieving impact for children in Nigeria.

He also called for more investment in the North East to mitigate challenges such as conflict, and environmental challenges such as climate change affecting children in the area.