Social protection strategies and policy frameworks have often neglected children’s vulnerability
to violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect. Yet, children need special attention in social
protection policy as they are often more vulnerable than the adult. In Nigeria, there is no
overarching policy on social protection and no national policy on social assistance and for
vulnerable children in particular. Even as there is a need to focus on Nigerian children in
general, particularly, there is an urgent need for an understanding of the multiple and often
intersecting vulnerabilities and risks that the girl-child face, which are often higher than those
faced by boys. This study, therefore, examines the state of social protection in Nigeria; the
vulnerabilities and risks that threaten the social and economic wellbeing of the girl-child in
Nigeria; the mechanisms and initiatives that the Nigerian government can put in place to
enhance social protection in general and that of the girl-child, in particular; and the roles nongovernmental
actors play in the provision of social protection in Nigeria.