Without a well-educated, skilled and healthy population, it is difficult to see how Nigeria can turn the corner in her quest for sustainable development. Central to the country’s crisis of development is the very poor health status and educational profile of her population which were by 2003 below the averages for Africa. Life expectancy hovers around a lowly 50 years which is linked to the country’s very high childhood mortality rates and a scandalous maternal mortality rate of around 800-1,000 per 100,000 live births, one of the highest in the world.

Nearly all of these deaths are due to preventable causes as may be expected in a situation in which only 13% of children aged 12-23 months are fully immunized and over 70% of teenage girls are married and having children in much of Northern Nigeria.

A country with so many of her citizens frequently ill or at risk of death is bound to struggle to be economically productive. And these struggles are compounded when these citizens possess modest educational and skill attainment as evidenced by the fact that less than a third of the 15 million children who were registered for primary education in 2003, and less than half of the 1.4 million adolescents in secondary schools will complete schooling at the respective levels.

NOF’s actions to address Nigeria’s huge human capital deficits are focused on support for three ‘quick-win’ strategies:

  • Child idealism and maternal health promotion.
  • Enhancement of school completion by disadvantaged children and adolescents.
  • Continued teacher education and motivation with a focus on science and technology.

NOF’s support for health promotion would emphasize local knowledge building and the popularization of health research findings among disadvantaged Nigerians. This should help to induce attitudinal and behavioral changes that confer huge health benefits to children, adolescents and women who are presently falling ill and dying in large numbers as a result of preventable causes. These include malaria, diarrhea , childbirth, sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS, and respiratory infections.

For education, NOF’s slant is in favour of working within the public school system from the base where the majority of children get into the system, but many fail to transit to the next level and/or leave with poor education and limited employability skills.

NOF therefore supports initiatives involving parents, teachers and school authorities that help to create conducive school and home environments as well as incentives that enable kids to stay in school and leave with high quality basic (primary and secondary) educations.