SOS Children in Nigeria

The Federal Republic of Nigeria on Africa's west coast is one of the continent's most populated countries. Increasing industrialisation and the migration of people from rural to urban areas has led to the growth of huge slums and rising social tensions. The economy is dominated by the production of petroleum. Although oil wealth has financed major investments in the country's infrastructure and created enormous wealth for some, Nigeria remains among the world's 20 poorest countries. In 2005 UNICEF estimated 64% of the population lived below the poverty line (c. $1.25 a day).

HIV/AIDS affects 3% of the Nigerian population. UNICEF estimates there are 9.7 million orphans in Nigeria, of which 1.2 million have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS.  Nearly one-fifth of Nigerian children die before the age of five, primarily from treatable diseases such as malaria, measles, whooping cough and pneumonia. According to UNICEF, malnutrition affects nearly 30% of children under the age of five. Only half of the population have access to safe water and one-third have no access to health care.

SOS Children's Villages run three purpose-built local villages to provide for orphaned or abandoned children. A fourth village is currently under construction. Children are given a home, a family and a new mother and they can stay until they are ready for independent life. The charity also run SOS Family Strengthening Programmes (FSPs) in the country, which help children at risk of abandonment to stay in the caring environment of their own biological family. SOS Social Centres have also been established to provide community support, health counseling, training workshops, and psychological support to the local community. In addition to the above, SOS Children run nursery, primary and secondary schools (open to children from the villages as well as surrounding neighbourhoods). Through all of these facilities, the charity is currently reaching more than 22,700 Nigerians.

The charity's first village in Nigeria was established in Isolo, a suburb of Lagos, in 1973. It has 10 family houses, each providing a home for up to 10 children. The houses are built in traditional style with large roofed-over verandas, which provide sheltered play areas for the children during the rainy season. Each family has a garden of their own, located between the houses to supply families with fresh vegetables throughout the year. The children receive their education at the nursery and primary schools in the village. Four SOS Youth Houses accommodate older children learning skills and trades at the SOS Vocational Training Centre. Courses on offer to both young people from the SOS Village and the local community include IT, office skills, design and dressmaking, handicrafts and home economics. Learning practical skills helps to prepare young people for independent lives.

With the need for a second community in Nigeria, the charity opened the second SOS Village Owu-Ijebu in 1996. Built approximately 145 km east of Lagos on a 250 acre site donated by the government, the village has 12 family houses and a nursery and primary school. A small clinic provides medical care for the local community as well as classes in nutrition and hygiene for local women. A proportion of the large site has been used to set up a small farming project where cassava, yam, plantains and corn are grown to provide food for the SOS Children's Village. Any surplus crops are sold locally, supplementing the families’ income. In 2003, a community support project also opened in the centre of Lagos. It provides a variety of social programmes including medical treatment, childcare, skills training for women and assistance and support for people affected by HIV/AIDS. This project currently helps 15,000 people a year.

A third SOS Children's Village opened in 2007 at Gwagwalada, near Abuja in the centre of Nigeria. Located in an area greatly affected by poverty, SOS Children have built 12 family houses for 120 homeless and disadvantaged children. Since the educational facilities surrounding the village are poor, SOS decided to build a primary school. The school provides 210 children from the SOS Children's Village and the local community with an education. It includes six classrooms and a sports area for the children to play. The village also includes a SOS Social Centre which as well as providing primary health care and community outreach programmes, runs Family Strengthening Programmes to help to keep disadvantaged families together. The centre here benefits approximately 2,000 people each year.

A fourth SOS Village has been under construction since April 2008 in Jos, the administrative capital of Plateau State in the middle belt of Nigeria. The village will have 12 family houses, providing a new home for 120 children. The village will have a nursery and a primary school. A SOS Social Centre will be set up to run Family Strengthening Programmes and provide support to people affected by HIV/AIDS in the vicinity of the village.

See also Aids Orphan Projects in Nigeria, Africa.

Habiba* is 22 years old. She is from Zamfara state in the northern part of Nigeria, and she lives in Agege, an area of Lagos. She is the oldest of a family of seven, including three boys and four girls. Habiba was in senior secondary school when her mother died in 2002. As she had lost her father in 1999, she had no choice but to drop out of school and start caring for her brothers and sisters.

"It was very difficult for us when our mother died. I was only 15 and I had to take care of six small brothers and sisters. I had to buy their daily food, pay their school fees and school stationeries as well as medicines when one of them was ill. I was the head of the family. It was really difficult because I didn't have a fixed monthly income. I had neither the authorized age to work, nor the required qualification enabling me to apply for a job. I started selling kerosene and oranges so that we could survive. Domestic works such as fetching water, cooking and cleaning were shared among my brothers and sisters."

"Finding money for our daily needs led me sometimes to beg because what I was gaining from my commerce was very insignificant. The proceeds from my sale were not sufficient to cater to the needs of the family. My brothers and sisters could no longer go to school. One of my small sisters was prematurely given into marriage by our father’s relations according to our traditions". 

In 2005, Habiba was referred to SOS Children’s Villages FSP by the Co-ordination of Foundation Aids Alliance.  Each month, Habiba receives a ration of food, "which relieves us enormously and allows us to eat regularly and well", she said. "We also receive clothes, and we benefit from medical care", she added.
 
Habiba is currently an apprentice fashion designer under the sponsorship of the FSP. Two of her siblings were able to go back to school, and the family were given better accommodation at the beginning of the school year. Habiba’s business is growing and one of her friends takes care of it when she needs to study.

"SOS Children’s Villages Nigeria, through the 'Family Strengthening Programme' has made a tremendous impact on my life and the lives of my brothers and sisters. Today, I don't worry any more about our life because there are people who are interested in our social situation and our future. The only thing we have to do now is to seize this great opportunity that has been offered to us, in order to guarantee our success in real life", she said. 

* For privacy reasons, we have changed her name.

SOS Children's Villages Nigeria
P.O. Box 660
Shomolu
Lagos
Nigeria

Tel +234/1/892 9519, +234/8096653889
Fax +234/1/497 4265

e-mail: sosnigeria@hyperia.com

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