The National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria, Eghosa Erhumwunse , has called on state governments to strengthen child protection systems and ensure that children grow up in safe, loving and nurturing family environments.
Eghosa Erhumwunse made the call while delivering the opening remarks at the National Alternative Care Consultative Forum organised by SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria under the Strengthening Child Care and Protection Systems in Nigeria project.
The project is funded by the European Union and implemented in collaboration with consortium partners, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) and JDF.
He said the forum was aimed at consolidating lessons from states that had taken steps towards implementing alternative care standards, identifying gaps and securing commitments from states to adopt, domesticate and implement the National Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children in Nigeria and its Implementation Strategy.
According to him, Nigeria has made progress in establishing legal and policy frameworks for child protection through the Child Rights Act and the National Guidelines.
He noted that the guidelines provide that children should grow up in families wherever it is safe and possible, while residential care should only be used as a last resort and for the shortest possible period.
He disclosed that as of the end of 2025, five states had formally adopted the National Guidelines into state-level practice, describing the development as evidence of progress but stressing that much more needed to be done.
The National Director, however, said having policies in place was not enough without functional systems to implement them.
He identified poverty, displacement, disability, conflict, abuse, neglect and inadequate family support as some of the factors forcing children into residential care.
He also listed inconsistent gatekeeping, an overstretched social service workforce, fragmented data and inadequate funding as major challenges confronting the alternative care system.
He said alternative care reform should not be limited to moving children out of institutions but should focus on strengthening families and preventing unnecessary separation in the first place.
“Families should receive support before crisis becomes separation, and budgets should reflect our policy commitments,” he said.
Eghosa also stressed the need to involve children and young people with lived experience of care in policy and programme development, saying they were “experts by experience” whose voices must be heard.
He called for collaboration among government, development partners, the private sector, civil society organisations and care providers to achieve sustainable reforms in the child protection sector.
He urged government to lead and adequately fund implementation, while partners and the private sector support innovation and scale, and civil society and care providers embrace the transition towards family-based care.
He said state delegations at the forum would be expected to make specific and time-bound commitments towards improving alternative care systems.
He urged participants to treat the commitments as an accountability process rather than a ceremonial exercise.
“Our success will not be measured by the speeches delivered, but by what changes after we leave this room: from policy to implementation, from institutional responses to family-based solutions, and from making decisions for children to making decisions with children,” he said.
He added: “Every child deserves a family. Every child deserves protection. Every child deserves to be heard. And every child deserves the opportunity to thrive.”