A renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Barr. Ngozi Olehi has said that with the N15.81 trillion earlier projected for debt servicing in 2025 exceeding the combined allocation for education (N3.5 trillion), health (N2.48 trillion) infrastructure (N4.06 trillion), and security (N4.91 trillion), the Nigerian child faces a bleak future and is already suffering severely for poor governance, fiscal recklessness and grievous debt burden.
Speaking to journalists on the World Children Day celebrated by the United Nations every November 20, Barr. Olehi SAN lamented that with a large portion of government revenue going into debt servicing and corruption, fiscal space for education and education-infrastructure is severely constrained pointing out that underfunding coupled with high debt burden pose a risk to human capital development: fewer properly educated children which means a weaker work force, which has implications for economic growth, poverty reduction and development.
He said that with over 18 million out-of-school children, the highest number globally, Nigeria continues to face a significant education crisis, caused by inter alia, poor education expenditure accounting for only 0.6 percent of GDP, which is far below the globally recommended benchmark of 4 to 6 percent adding that this highlights that current spending levels remain grossly inadequate to address the critical challenges of access and quality in education thereby worsening the opportunities for good livelihoods for children and the unborn in the nearest future.
Barr. Olehi, SAN stated that no matter the degree of hardships citizens are presently subjected to, the Nigerian child and the unburn are bearing the heavy brunt of economic and political disaster afflicting the people now with Nigeria’s total public debt hitting N152.39 trillion as of June 2025, the highest ever on record in naira terms according to latest data from the Debt Management Office who also state that public debt in dollar terms also rose to $99.68 billion just $400 million shy of hitting $100 billion.
The Senior Advocate of Nigeria disclosed that from statistics supplied by credible institutions healthcare expenditure remains at just 0.6% of GDP, significantly below the WHO-recommended 6% and that out-of-pocket payments still account for over 70% of total health spending, creating a heavy burden for low-income households which explains why the country faces high maternal mortality at 512 deaths per 100,000 live births and productivity losses amounting to 1% of GDP annually due to poor health outcomes.
Barr. Olehi, SAN insisted that with the abundance of natural endowments, Nigeria should be rich enough to guarantee the best future for her children and the unburn but regretted that the huge debt overhang, stupendous cost of governance, unbridled corruption constitute formidable barriers to significant and sustained investment in the education and health sectors to reverse the looming danger on the future of the Nigerian child.He observed that reduced investments in education and health mean that many children, especially in disadvantaged or rural communities risk missing out on learning opportunities or getting substandard education and called on the Federal and State Governments to make substantial budgetary allocations to education and health sectors of the economy.
