Funmi Ogundare
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has appealed to Lagos legislators to take decisive, measurable actions to protect children’s rights, saying the world is experiencing a rollback of child rights at a time when they need the most support.
Chief of UNICEF Lagos Field Office, Celine Lafoucriere, made the appeal recently at the 2025 World Children’s Day Policy Dialogue and Children’s Arts Exhibition with the theme ‘My Day. My Rights’, which brought together legislators, state officials and children from various communities across Lagos, at the state House of Assembly.
Lafoucriere explained that global funding cuts were threatening critical services for children, with potentially devastating consequences. According to her, declining investments could result in 4.5 million additional child deaths by 2030; six million more children out of school by 2026; and reduced support for over 200 million children currently in need of humanitarian assistance.
Despite this grim global outlook, Lafoucriere stressed that Lagos has the capacity to chart a different course.
“This does not have to be our Lagos story,” she said. “When you decide that children matter, you prove it. Your birth registration numbers are the best in Nigeria.”
She reminded lawmakers that every child in Lagos, regardless of background, has the inherent right to education, health, protection, clean water, and participation. These, she emphasised, “are not favours we grant when budgets allow”.
Lafoucriere said that the children present at the event would speak about real challenges they face: hunger, inadequate school facilities, lack of learning materials, exposure to violence, and the absence of platforms to express their views on issues affecting them.
She advised legislators not to listen passively but to respond with specific, time-bound commitments to improve school infrastructure, expand digital learning to underserved communities, strengthen health services, expand access to health insurance, and institutionalise children’s participation in policymaking.
“You are sitting in the House of Assembly, where laws are made, budgets approved, and priorities set,” noted Lafoucriere. “You have the power to change their lives today.”
Emphasising the long-term value of child-focused investments, she noted that every child supported today becomes “a healthier, smarter, more productive adult”, and every child protected is “one less person trapped in poverty or crime”.
Lafoucriere reaffirmed UNICEF’s readiness to partner with the Lagos State Government to fulfil the rights of every child.
“Let us leave here with actions children can see and feel in their daily lives. Let us show them what leadership looks like,” she stated.
