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 greater investment in the first five years of a child’s life.
She described this stage as critical for both human development and national progress during a virtual media briefing organised by Gatefield under the #ItTakesEveryone advocacy campaign on Friday.
Ikuenobe said research shows early childhood is the most important phase of development, noting that the brain forms more than one million neural connections every second during these years. She added that about 80 per cent of brain development is achieved by age three, and nearly 90 per cent by age five, making early intervention essential for long term learning, behaviour, and health outcomes.
She stressed that ECD should be treated as a national development priority rather than a social welfare issue, arguing that investments in early childhood produce long term social and economic benefits.
To support effective interventions, she referenced the Nurturing Care Framework developed by global partners including the World Health Organisation and UNICEF. The framework focuses on five key areas: good health, adequate nutrition, responsive caregiving, safety and security, and early learning opportunities.
However, she identified poverty, insecurity, and weak social support systems as major threats to child development in Nigeria. She warned that exposure to violence such as insurgency, banditry, and school abductions can cause toxic stress that negatively affects brain development and emotional wellbeing.
Ikuenobe also highlighted the importance of caregiver wellbeing, noting that stressed or economically burdened parents may struggle to provide the responsive care children need. She called for stronger policies, increased funding, and better coordination across health, education, and social protection sectors, while urging the media to play a stronger role in raising awareness on ECD.
Also speaking, Health Communications Specialist at Gatefield, Ms. Omei Bongos Ikwue, described early childhood development as the foundation of society and a key driver of lifelong outcomes. She explained that it spans health, nutrition, education, protection, and caregiving from conception to age five.
She noted that nearly 90 per cent of brain development occurs by age five, meaning early experiences strongly shape learning, behaviour, health, and productivity. She warned that developmental setbacks during this period can persist into adulthood, especially when children are exposed to neglect or violence.
Bongos Ikwue also emphasised the role of the media in advancing ECD outcomes, describing journalists as important actors in translating data into human centred stories, amplifying marginalised voices, and encouraging public engagement and policy 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}