UNICEF warned the crisis of child death because 420,000 children -Nigerian children took the risk of death from malnutrition

The UN Children’s Funds (UNICEF) have issued a clear warning that as many as 420,000 children can die in 2025 if urgent steps are not taken to overcome the worsening Nigerian malnutrition crisis.

UNICEF’s state representative in Nigeria, Wafaa Elfadil Saeed Abdelratef, sounded an alarm during a visit to the Maiduguri Field Office on Thursday.

According to Abdelratef, it is estimated that 15 million Nigerian children under five people are malnourished, with 3.5 million at risk of severe acute nutritional deficiencies. Of that number, nearly half a million children can lose their lives next year if the resources are not mobilized.

“Forty percent of under -ves are hampered, children who will never achieve full physical or cognitive potential if we don’t act now,” he said.

UNICEF emphasizes urgent needs for increasing funding, local food production solutions, and expanded maintenance centers to prevent child death that can be avoided due to hunger and related complications.

This body also highlighted the scale of humanitarian crisis in Northeast of Nigeria, where more than 4.5 million people still need help.

Outside of malnutrition, Abderatef attracted attention to the deepest emergency of Nigerian education, revealed that 18.3 million children are currently out of school, 10.2 million at elementary school age and 8.1 million at junior high levels.

“This means that almost one of the three Nigerian children do not attend school. Every year, around 3.9 million children fail to complete basic education, while 4.2 million come out before completing junior high school. Only 27 percent of children aged 7 to 14 years can read with understanding, and 75 percent cannot complete simple mathematics,” he said.

Abderatef further underlines the importance of school registration and retention, noting that education delays early marriage and empower girls to make decisions based on information about their health and future.

In the survival of children, Unicef ​​revealed that Nigeria contributed the highest number of “zero doses” children globally, with 2.1 million children aged one year never received a single vaccine. This makes almost one of three babies vulnerable to diseases that can be prevented but deadly such as measles, diphtheria, meningitis, and polyovirus variants.

Abdelratef warns that except for fast and coordinated actions taken, Nigeria is at risk of losing hundreds of thousands of children due to hunger, disease that can be prevented, and systemic neglect.