شواهد تجربی فقر و محرومیت کودکان در نیجریه Empirical evidence of child poverty and deprivation in Nigeria

1. Introduction A major socio-economic problem afflicting many countries of the world, particularly the developing regions of the globe, is poverty. Interestingly, with the rapid and unprecedented increase in globalization, poverty has reduced significantly in the world both in number and in proportion (World Bank, 2016). Unfortunately, not all regions have made remarkable progress in reducing poverty. Sub-Saharan Africa has lagged behind other regions with regard to poverty reduction (World Bank, 2016). In Nigeria, poverty has increased over the years – for instance, from 27.2% to 69% between 1980 and 2010 (National Bureau of Statistics, 2012). A crucial aspect of poverty that has attracted the attention of development experts, researchers and policy makers is child poverty. As observed in Chen and Corak (2008), child poverty has continued to increase in its dominance in discussions and analyses of poverty. Several reasons have been given for the crucial importance of a child-focused approach in poverty analysis. These reasons include the following. First, poverty makes it impossible for children to have their fundamental human rights. Severe or extreme poverty which occurs over a prolonged period can stunt and distort children’s development and destroy their opportunities for optimum fulfillment in life including the roles they are expected to successively play as they grow older in the family, community and society (Gordon, Nandy, Pantazis, Pemberton, & Townsend, 2003). Second, children are at a higher risk of poverty irrespective of place and time; children largely depend on their direct environment for the provision of their basic needs. Given that they are not independent economic actors by themselves, they fully depend on the distribution of resources by their parents or guardians within the framework of household and community arrangement (Roelen & Gassmann, 2008). Third, as children grow up in poverty, they become trapped in the web of the phenomenon, and are most likely to remain in the poverty trap as they become adults; thus, it is said that poverty often presents itself as a vicious cycle, causing children to be trapped in it from birth onwards (Roelen, Gassmann, & de Neubourg, 2010). Fourth, children are affected differently from poverty and deprivation when compared to adults. The basic needs of children are different from those of adults; for instance, the dietary requirements of children are different from those of adults. (Roelen & Gassmann, 2008; Roelen et al., 2010); also the educational requirements as well as other requirements for protection of children are different from those of adults. Thus, children-specific approach in poverty and deprivation analyses can highlight and emphasize those basic needs that are particularly very important for children and their development (Roelen & Gassmann, 2008).