Topic: 2026 – Digital Equity for Children
Country: Nigeria
Delegate Name: Owen Baar
Country: Nigeria, the Federal Republic of
School: Grand Haven High School
Committee: United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Topic: Digital Equity for Children
As the information age, globalization, and the internet demand careers to be more dependent on digital skills, children must learn how to navigate and use the digital environment. Each child should have access to this learning to provide equal opportunity. Unfortunately, for many countries, the digital infrastructure does not exist to provide students with digital equity, with rural regions in such countries having extremely limited digital resources. This results in a third of the world not having access to the internet (“Childhood”). Economically, the situation will serve as a feedback loop if not taken care of, with impoverished children unable to gain digital skills required for well-paying jobs, keeping them impoverished as adults and therefore leading to another generation of children stuck in poverty. Even more concerning to the economy is the disproportionate amount of people who have access to the internet, with about 2/3rds of the world having access to the internet, but only 1/3rd, or 1.3 billion of all the school-aged children have access to the internet at home (“Childhood”). This imbalance could have disastrous effects on the digitally-fueled world. Digital equality is also exaggerating the difference between existing demographics, with Asia and Africa holding the largest number of offline children, and girls often being the majority of students not enrolled in school, which is a great place for children to learn about the digital world (“Childhood”).
As about half of Nigeria’s population is under the age of 18, we recognize that it would be foolish not to prepare them for the world, as they are our direct line into the future. If they are not taught about the skills that can determine a successful career, then they will not be able to support Nigeria’s economy (“28 Million”). However, many challenges are in our way. Violence and conflict in the North interfere with schooling, with 70 attacks on schools transpiring over 8 years resulting in the death, abduction, and the destruction of school buildings (“28 Million”). The lack of digital and electrical infrastructure across the country also hinders Nigerians, especially those in rural areas, from accessing the internet and digital devices and tools at an affordable price. Resulting in only 36% of our population using the internet and only 22% of our population having digital literacy tools, which can protect them from misinformation on the internet and social media platforms (“28 Million”).
Despite all these hurdles, the promise of economic power that the large youth population could bring if educated well is too tempting, and Nigeria has already started working on efforts that increase digital accessibility within the country. Because of the economic power our youth contain, private companies are even willing to contribute funding, which should be considered by other countries as well in order to form public-private associations that can advance digital equity. Nigeria already has a partnership with Airtel, American Tower Corporation (ATC) Nigeria, the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education, IHS, and UNICEF that aims to ultimately provide each school and over 20 million young Nigerians access to the internet (“Connecting”). Initial success with this group shows the effectiveness of public-private partnerships, with about 1,200 communities already provided with internet access and distributing 13,000 devices. However, there must also be programs that can teach children how to navigate the digital environment, or else the digital infrastructure is useless. Governments should make websites that can provide educational material for students and teachers alike, such as our own Nigeria Learning Passport. Importantly, legislation must also be passed to protect schools, as even if all Nigerian schools had digital access, conflict could still disconnect these schools and contribute to less students attending and thus preventing the students from accessing educational digital materials.
Works Cited
“Childhood in a Digital World | Office of Strategy and Evidence Innocenti.” Unicef, 12 June 2025, https://www.unicef.org/innocenti/reports/childhood-digital-world. Accessed 11 February 2026.
“Connecting every child to Digital Learning | unicef nigeria.” https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/stories/connecting-every-child-digital-learning. Accessed 10 February 2026.
“28 Million Nigerian Children and Adolescents Lack Access to Formal Schooling or Digital Learning Opportunities.” Save the Children International, 26 January 2026, https://www.savethechildren.net/nigeria/news/28-million-nigerian-children-and-adolescents-lack-access-formal-schooling-or-digital. Accessed 11 February 2026.
