The primary context for the care of young children is the home. Traditionally in Nigeria, as elsewhere in Africa, the responsibility for young children has not been limited entirely to the nuclear family unit.
Extended family relatives, as well as neighbours, would normally contribute to the upbringing of the child, providing him or her with a wide range of stimulating interactions that positively nurture the child’s development, particularly in psycho-social terms. Such sharing of child-care responsibilities is also advantageous for mothers, who as a result can more easily engage in work outside the home.
In recent decades, rapid urbanization has increasingly eroded this tradition pattern of child -care. For the approximately one third of families who now live in the cities, the mutual support that was a prominent feature of rural life has given way to a situation where each household is to a large extent responsible on its own for the care of children. At the same time, the harsh economic situation, especially since the collapse of the oil boom in the late 1970’s has placed severe stains on families’ coping capacity and thus their ability to provide all the material and emotional support their children deserve. In particular, more and more women have joined the labour force and are often working long hours in order to supplement family income.
The implications of this for child-care are significant, since over half of employed women have a child under six years of age. It is mainly the urban women who have less opportunity to entrust their children to other family members or relatives in the community. Their husbands are likely to be working and their older children are more likely to be in school. Community ties are looser in the cities, limiting opportunities to leave children with neighbours. Some of these children of Urban mothers spend much of their time in an environment which is not conducive to their health and safety, particularly in the case of children whose mothers are engaged in street trading. The situation is quite different in the rural areas, since extended family ties are stronger and older ones are less likely to be in school, offering more opportunities for child minding arrangements at home or in the community. Although twenty - six percent of mothers engaged in agriculture carry their young children to the fields, strapped to their backs, they make much more use than urban mothers of informal child – minding arrangements, notably with older siblings. Modern mothers leave their children to child – minders which includes a wide range of persons, including neighbours, friends and servants or hired helps.
There have been very few in – depth studies, particularly in recent years, on the characteristics and quality of the care provided to young children in Nigeria and how these impact on their physical, cognitive and psycho-social development. However, what studies there have been confirm the importance of good nutrition (both for physical and mental development) and the stimulation of mental capacities through toys, books and games.
The main body of information concerns the practices of mothers and other care – givers with respect to feeding, hygiene in the home and the prevention, diagnosis and response to illness in young children. Although rising rates of exclusive breastfeeding are still very low in Nigeria, indicating that the great majority of care – givers have little knowledge of the nutritional value of breast-milk or of the health risks of early exposure to other liquids and solids. This is one of the main causes of the high rate of diarrhoea diseases in young children, which can set off a vicious cycle of illness and malnutrition.
In all cases, poor practices and negatively correlated with the education of mothers, a factor which shows how the low levels of female education and literacy are one of the main causal factors of poor child – care practices in the home. Apart from these problems to do with knowledge, attitudes and practices, there are structural factors that limit the quality of the scare that mothers and other care givers can provide to young children. These include poverty and household food insecurity, micro-nutrient deficiencies related to the ecological conditions of different parts of the country.
However, the provision of both day- care centres and nursery schools is primarily a private sector activity. Government policy, while stressing the importance of early child care and pre-primary education, particularly to help prepare children for school, has not made it a priority for public resources to be devoted to these facilities.
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