Key points
- An Early Childhood Development (ECD) expert, Dr. Megor Ikuenobe, has called for increased financial investment in children’s first five years of life.
- Speaking at a virtual media briefing organized by Gatefield, Ikuenobe noted that the human brain achieves nearly 90 percent of its development by age five.
- The Nurturing Care Framework, developed by global partners like the WHO and UNICEF, highlights health, nutrition, responsive caregiving, security, and early learning.
- Poverty, insecurity, and exposure to regional violence subject children to toxic stress that can severely impair brain development.
- Health Communications Specialist Ms. Omei Bongos-Ikwue emphasized the role of the media in translating data into human-centered stories to generate policy demand.
Main Story
An Early Childhood Development (ECD) expert, Dr Megor Ikuenobe, has called for increased investment in children’s first five years of life.
She described the period as critical to human development and national progress during a virtual media briefing organised by Gatefield under the #ItTakesEveryone advocacy campaign on Friday.
According to Ikuenobe, scientific evidence shows that early childhood is the most crucial phase of human development, noting that the brain forms more than one million neural connections every second during these early years. She explained that the human brain reaches about 80 per cent of its development by age three and nearly 90 per cent by age five, making early interventions essential for lifelong learning, behaviour, and health outcomes.
The expert stated that ECD should be treated as a national development priority rather than a social welfare issue, stressing that investments in children’s early years yield long-term social and economic benefits.
To guide these interventions, she highlighted the Nurturing Care Framework, developed by global partners including the World Health Organisation and UNICEF, which supports children from pregnancy to age five through integrated services. The framework focuses on five key components: good health, adequate nutrition, responsive caregiving, safety and security, and opportunities for early learning.
However, Ikuenobe identified poverty, insecurity, and weak social support systems as major threats to optimal child development in Nigeria. She warned that exposure to violence, including insurgency, banditry, and school abductions, subjects children to toxic stress that can impair brain development and emotional well-being.
Ikuenobe also emphasised the importance of caregivers’ well-being, noting that parents and guardians facing poverty and psychological stress may be unable to provide the responsive care children need. She called for stronger policies, increased funding, and collaboration across the health, education, and social protection sectors to improve early childhood outcomes in Nigeria, while urging the media to intensify awareness and advocacy on ECD.
Also speaking, a Health Communications Specialist at Gatefield, Ms Omei Bongos-Ikwue, described ECD as the foundation of society and a key determinant of lifelong outcomes. She explained that ECD is a multidimensional issue encompassing health, nutrition, education, protection, and responsive caregiving from conception to age five.
Citing scientific evidence, she noted that nearly 90 per cent of brain development occurs by age five, meaning early-life experiences have lifelong consequences for learning, behaviour, health, and productivity. Bongos-Ikwue warned that developmental setbacks during this period could persist into adulthood, particularly where children are exposed to neglect, violence, and other adverse conditions.
She underscored the media’s role in advancing ECD outcomes, describing journalists as key actors in promoting public understanding and policy engagement to translate data into human-centred stories, amplify marginalised voices, and mobilise communities for collective action.
The Issues
- Elevating early childhood development from a social welfare perspective to a primary national economic development priority.
- Mitigating the impact of poverty, regional banditry, and toxic stress on the biological development of young children.
- Enhancing caregiver mental health and economic stability to ensure the delivery of responsive caregiving.
What’s Being Said
- Explaining how the initial years of life fundamentally anchor all future human capabilities, Dr Megor Ikuenobe stated: “The earliest years lay the biological foundation for all future learning, behaviour and health. What happens, or does not happen, during this period shapes an individual for life,”
- Outlining why a child’s surrounding safety is directly linked to their cognitive capacity, Ikuenobe warned: “Children who grow up in unsafe environments are more likely to experience anxiety, depression and long-term developmental challenges. A child who does not feel safe cannot learn or grow,”
- Emphasizing that early youth interventions require the mobilization of all societal sectors, she concluded: “Early childhood development is not charity; it is an investment in human capital and national development. It takes everyone—government, communities, families and the media—to give every child the best start in life,”
- Defining the long-term societal stakes involved in safeguarding the developmental milestones of the youngest generation, Ms Omei Bongos-Ikwue said: “When we talk about children, we are really talking about the foundation of society—who they become, how they interact with the world and how whole they are as individuals,”
- Noting that structural adjustments in early childhood care determine broader national trajectories, Bongos-Ikwue stated: “These are critical questions because the answers define not just individual futures, but the future of our nation,”
What’s Next
- Advocates under the #ItTakesEveryone campaign will continue pushing for stronger cross-sectoral collaboration between health, education, and social protection ministries.
- Media houses and journalists will look to step up public awareness campaigns to translate early development data into human-centered stories.
- Policy stakeholders will work toward incorporating the five pillars of the Nurturing Care Framework into local health and educational guidelines.
Bottom Line
ECD expert Dr. Megor Ikuenobe and Gatefield specialist Omei Bongos-Ikwue have called for early childhood development to be treated as a priority national investment, warning that poverty and security threats create toxic stress that disrupts critical brain development occurring before age five.
 expert, Dr Megor Ikuenobe, has called for increased investment in children’s first five years of life.){kind=link}