A new report by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has revealed that Nigerian youths feel the most pressure to succeed globally.

The report titled ‘The Changing Childhood Project’ was conducted by UNICEF in conjunction with Gallup, ahead of the November 20 Children’s Day celebration.

UNICEF in the report said Nigerian children and young adults were increasingly under the most pressure to succeed globally even with limited opportunities and support from the government.

The report said the majority of young Nigerians surveyed were concerned they did not have enough money to feed.

“Nigerian children and young people feel under the most pressure to succeed globally,” the report said. “As much as 85 per cent say they feel a greater pressure to succeed than their elders – the highest of all 21 countries surveyed, with young people in Lebanon a close second. In the area of finances, young Nigerians again showed a high level of concern, with 74 per cent of females and 66 per cent of males worried they don’t have enough money for food.”

Conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, the report examined young people’s opinions about their mental health, worldview, trust in institutions, the importance of equality, climate change, and digital benefits and risks, among others.

The report also revealed that young Nigerians are most concerned about the risk of meeting new people in person after getting to relate on social media.

It further disclosed that young Nigerians were more concerned and conscious of information collected from them and shared online.

Reacting to the report’s findings, UNICEF Nigeria representative Peter Hawkins called for the need to address the issues uncovered by the report.

“Children and young people in Nigeria clearly have a high level of concern about many and varied issues, compared to their peers in other countries,” Mr Hawkins said. “We cannot bury our heads in the sand and hope these concerns will go away. We need to take action. And the first step is to solicit their views, really listen closely and allow their concerns and ideas to influence our policy decisions.”

Countries surveyed included Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Japan, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lebanon, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Peru, Spain, United Kingdom, Ukraine, US, and Zimbabwe.