The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is ever ready to support Lagos state in fulfilling the rights of every child,Celine Lafoucriere, Chief of UNICEF Lagos Field Office has said .
Speaking at the World Children’s Day Policy Dialogue with Legislators & Arts Exhibition by Children, November 20, 2025 @The Lagos State House of Assembly Complex, Alausa Ikeja, Lafoucriere said the society must show children what leadership looks like.
She disclosed that globally, we are seeing a pullback on child rights. Funding is being slashed just when children need it most. This funding cuts mean 4.5 million more children could die by 2030. Six million more children could be out of school by 2026. And while over 200 million children desperately need help, the money to reach them is disappearing.
According to her “every November 20, we mark the day the world agreed that children have rights, not privileges. The right to survive, to learn, to be protected, to be heard.
But let me tell you what is happening right now.
“This is the world we are operating in right now. But it does not have to be our Lagos story. I have been in Lagos long enough to know what you are capable of. When you commit to something, you deliver. Your birth registration numbers are the best in Nigeria. When you decide that children matter, you prove it.
“These children here today come from various parts of Lagos. Different schools. Different circumstances. But they share something in common: they all have rights. The right to education, to health, to protection, to clean water, to be heard. These are not favors we grant when budgets allow. These are rights.
“The children will tell you about their peers going to school hungry, about schools with no toilets, on water, no books. They will tell you about violence they have endured or seen their friends
“And others will tell you that nobody asks them what they think, even when decisions are made about their lives.
“My Day. My Rights” the theme for this year’s World Children’s Day is not a slogan or theory about children, but their actual realities.
“The important thing is that these children are here because they believe you can help. They believe you will help! You are sitting in the House of Assembly, the place where laws are made, budgets are approved, and priorities are set. You have the power to change their lives today.
“And here is what I want from you, our dear leaders. Do not just listen politely and move on because what they are describing is not acceptable. Not in our Lagos!
Every child you invest in becomes a healthier, smarter, more productive adult.
“Every child you protect is one less person trapped in poverty or crime. Every child you empower becomes a leader who builds a better Lagos.
“And so, when the children finish speaking, we would love to hear specific commitments from our Honorable Members on when to fix that school or expand digital learning including in remote and hard-to-reach communities, when to build that health center or expand that health insurance scheme, when to create space for children’s voices in your decisions, and so on…
“UNICEF is ever ready to support Lagos state in fulfilling the rights of every child. So let us make today count.
Let us leave here with actions that children can see and feel in their daily lives. Let us show them what leadership looks like”