The Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), said Nigeria’s 36 state governors had adopted a resolution to advance early childhood development (ECD) in their states.

The Director General of the form, Dr. Abdulateef Shittu who disclosed this at the North-West zonal consultative workshop on Early Childhood Development, said the governors, at their June 17, 2026 meeting, stated that investments in early childhood development are fundamental to improving health, nutrition, school readiness, learning outcomes, future productivity, and overall human capital development.

The DG who was represented by Director, Media and Strategic Communications,
Mallam Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, described the period from pregnancy through the first five years of life as a critical stage for a child’s development.

“It is during these formative years that the foundations for health, learning, cognitive development and future productivity are established,” he said.

The Director-General advocated that Nigeria should see ECD as a development and economic imperative rather than as an intervention limited to a single sector.

“Investing in early childhood development is therefore not only an investment in children; it is an investment in Nigeria’s human capital and long-term economic development,” Shittu added.

He is of the opinion that the effectiveness of national ECD policies would be determined by their translation into concrete programmes at the subnational level.

“While national policies and frameworks provide important direction, their impact will ultimately depend on how effectively they are translated into action at the state and local government levels.

“These places us, the state actors, at the centre of Nigeria’s ECD agenda,” he stated.

According to him, the complexity of early childhood development requires a coordinated, multisectoral approach involving all relevant sectors.

“Early Childhood Development is inherently multisectoral,” Shittu said, adding that no single ministry, department or agency could deliver the range of interventions that a child requires to grow and succeed in life.

“All sectors must work together towards shared outcomes for children,” he added, and called for practical plans that are aligned with their specific needs and institutional realities rather than mere policy commitments.

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