40% of Nigerian Children Stunted: Experts Warn $1 Trillion Economy at Serious Risk -

In homes across Nigeria, millions of children are fighting a silent battle long before they learn to read or write — a battle against malnutrition that experts say could shape the country’s economic future.

At a policy dialogue in Abuja hosted by SBM Intelligence in partnership with the World Bank, development specialists delivered a blunt message: Nigeria’s ambition to become a $1 trillion economy by 2050 may remain out of reach if the country fails to urgently invest in its youngest citizens.

Nearly 40 percent of Nigerian children under five are stunted due to chronic undernutrition, according to speakers at the event.

Behind that figure are children whose physical and cognitive development may never fully recover — and whose reduced potential could ripple through the nation’s workforce decades from now.

Dr. Ritgak Tilley-Gyado of the World Bank’s Early Years Programme posed a critical question: can Nigeria realistically achieve its trillion-dollar target without first securing the health and development of children who will make up its future labour force?

By 2050, children who are between zero and five years old today will be teenagers and young adults — the engine room of Nigeria’s economy.

But experts warn that if early childhood deprivation continues unchecked, the country could face a productivity crisis before those children even enter the job market.

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Tilley-Gyado described early childhood development not as charity or social welfare, but as a strategic economic investment.

Research shows that every dollar invested in early childhood can generate returns of up to thirteen dollars through improved productivity and lower long-term social costs.

She also stressed that inequality begins early and is difficult to reverse after age five.

To truly address the crisis, she said, Nigeria must coordinate health, nutrition, education and social protection systems around the child — recognising that children grow within families and communities, not government silos.
Dr. Joe Abah of DAI warned that failing to tackle malnutrition and other childhood challenges means Nigeria could lose its vast human potential.

For Ikemesit Effiong, Managing Partner of SBM Intelligence, the numbers tell a story that goes beyond health statistics.

Although under-five mortality has dropped from 132 per 1,000 live births in 2018 to 110 in 2024, neonatal deaths remain high at 41 per 1,000 live births.

“In simple terms, nearly half of the children who die before age five do not survive their first month,” he said.

Effiong argued that early childhood deprivation fuels lower educational attainment, weaker earning power and deeper poverty in adulthood.

Addressing it, he added, requires more than hospitals and schools — it demands better caregiving support, improved sanitation, proper nutrition and stronger institutional coordination.