No Place to Call Their Own: The Tragedy of Statelessness for Nigerian Children

Today is May 27, Children’s Day in Nigeria, the most populous Black nation on the face of the earth. As a father of a three-and-a-half-year-old toddler, I find myself reflecting deeply on what this day truly means for our children, not just in sentiment, but in truth, in data, and in dignity.
I look at my son, TieriayoOluwa. I consider the rights he enjoys, the right to be loved, to be protected, to be educated, to be nourished, to be heard. I consider the opportunities he has, the foundation being laid for his future. But I cannot, with any sense of fairness, say the same about the majority of children in Nigeria today.
A Nation of Children Without a Nation According to UNICEF, Nigeria has over 100 million children. More than 50% of our population is under the age of 18. And yet, when you assess the conditions under which most of these children live, the conclusion is devastating: Nigerian children are, functionally, stateless.
Why do I say this? Because the state, that entity meant to serve as their final shield and first enabler, is failing.
- over 18 million children are out of school, the highest number in the world.
- 1 in 10 Nigerian children dies before the age of five, mostly from preventable diseases.
- 35 million children under five suffer from malnutrition; 12 million are stunted.
- Over 26.5 million lack access to safe water; 45 million lack basic sanitation.
- 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 10 boys experience sexual violence before the age of 18.
This is not a mere failure of governance. It is the erosion of statehood itself, as far as these children are concerned.
Where the State Fails, the Parent Should Stand. But Can They? In a working system, when parents cannot provide the essentials, the state steps in. But in Nigeria, we have it reversed: if parents do not provide, there is often no fallback. The result? Children are either overburdened by the efforts of overstretched parents or abandoned to the mercy of a broken system. In both cases, they are left in the lurch.
We now have two categories of children:
- Those whose parents play the role the state should have played.
- Those whose parents cannot afford to do so, and are therefore left with nothing.
Both groups are functionally stateless. Because if access to education, health care, shelter, and protection is not guaranteed by virtue of citizenship, what then does it mean to be a citizen?
A Tale of Two Futures On one hand, my son represents what could be: a child raised with dignity, opportunity, and the loving structures necessary to thrive. On the other hand, millions of children in this country represent what has become: a generation robbed of its rightful inheritance.
But It Does Not Have to Be This Way
As an Egalitarian, Family Attorney, Family Strengthening Advocate, Child Safeguarding and Protection Innovator, and Parenting Ideologue, I assert that we must challenge this dangerous trajectory, and we must do so urgently and deliberately.
We must demand the rise of a new Nigeria: a nation where every life truly matters, and where our children are not only prepared for the future but are equipped to live in a country that is fit for their dreams and dignity.
In this new Nigeria:
- The family is empowered to instill timeless values and nurture identity in our precious children.
- The community, neighbors, schools, religious institutions, the media, and civil society, rallies around the family to support this sacred responsibility.
- The state, represented by government at all levels, provides a deliberately enabling social, political, and economic environment that ensures the total well-being of every Nigerian child.
This cannot be achieved through perfunctory messages and ceremonial gestures from state and federal governments. It requires concrete action backed by measurable commitment, and we, the people, must hold government accountable at every turn.
To build this Nigeria, we must:
- Demand enforceable child protection frameworks rooted in both law and cultural relevance.
- Rethink our national budgeting process to ensure children are visibly and verifiably prioritized.
- Educate parents, not only about their rights but about their sacred responsibilities as primary nurturers and protectors.
- Partner with communities and faith-based institutions to build safe, inclusive, and value-driven environments.
- Recognize that until every Nigerian child is safe, nourished, and educated, none of us is truly free.
Children’s Day must become more than parades and songs. It must become a national reckoning, a legislative alarm, and a parental awakening.
Let this be the last generation of Nigerian children with no place to call their own.
Taiwo Akinlami is a Family & Social Development Attorney, Parenting Ideologue, and Child Safeguarding Innovator. He is the Founder of The Power Parenting Company and a father to TieriayoOluwa, whose joy and safety remind him daily of the work that remains undone.