Nigeria could generate more than US$400 billion in additional income by 2040 if it increases investment in adolescent girls through education, healthcare, economic inclusion and stronger legal protections, the World Bank said in a new report released Wednesday.
USThe report, titled Pathways to Prosperity for Adolescent Girls in Nigeria, argued that targeted interventions aimed at improving the welfare and opportunities of girls could unlock vast economic potential in Africa’s most populous country.
“Estimates suggest that investing in adolescent girls in Nigeria between now and 2040 could generate more than $400bn in additional income for a cost of around US$37bn,” the report said.
The World Bank said Nigeria faces persistent challenges including poverty, insecurity and deep regional inequalities, but noted that investments in girls could significantly boost productivity, labour participation and long-term economic growth.
It added that similar investments across Africa could generate more than US$2.4 trillion in additional income at an estimated cost of $200 billion.
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The report highlighted stark disparities between northern and southern Nigeria, with adolescent girls in the conflict-affected North East and North West facing the worst outcomes due to insecurity, insurgency and entrenched social barriers.
According to the findings, only 45.7 percent of Nigerian girls aged 15 to 19 are currently in school, below the African average of 51.5 percent.
The report also found that 30.6 percent of girls in the same age group are economically active, compared to the continental average of 22.3 percent.
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While 80.8 percent of Nigerian girls aged 15 to 19 are unmarried and without children, early marriage and childbearing remain widespread in poorer and rural communities.
The World Bank warned that gender inequality continues to limit opportunities for millions of girls, noting that adolescent girls are more than twice as likely as boys to be out of school and unemployed.
It said 19.2 percent of girls are either married or have children, compared to just 0.6 percent of boys.
The report also pointed to legal and digital barriers affecting girls’ advancement.
Nigeria scored 51.1 out of 100 on the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law 2026 legal frameworks index, below the Sub-Saharan African average of 59.6.
Digital access also remains uneven, with only 12.3 percent of adolescent girls using the internet compared to 18.1 percent of boys.
Smartphone ownership among girls stood at 36.6 percent, significantly lower than the 51.1 percent recorded among boys.
Regional disparities were especially pronounced.
The report identified the South East as having the highest share of girls following what it described as the “Grace pathway” — girls who are in school, unmarried, child-free and not working — at 62.4 percent.
The South West followed at 50.4 percent, while the figure dropped sharply to 22.8 percent in the North East.
By contrast, vulnerable pathways involving girls who are out of school, unemployed, married or with children were concentrated in northern Nigeria.
Vulnerability levels stood at 55.1 percent in the North West and 46.4 percent in the North East, compared to 21.9 percent in the South East.
The report also underscored major inequalities between rural and urban areas.
Only 32.4 percent of rural girls are in school, compared to 59.2 percent of urban girls, while rural girls are more than four times as likely to be married or have children.
Household income was another major determinant of opportunity.
The report found that just 15.9 percent of girls from the poorest households are in school, compared to 62.2 percent among girls from the wealthiest homes.
To address the disparities, the World Bank called for targeted education and healthcare programmes, expanded digital access, lower schooling costs, vocational training and stronger legal protections for women and girls.
It said many of the initiatives are already being implemented through the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment programme, a US$1.2 billion scheme covering 18 northern states and several states in southern Nigeria.
The lender said evidence from Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa showed that interventions such as scholarships, cash transfers, girls’ clubs and vocational training programmes have helped improve school enrolment, delay child marriage and increase economic participation among adolescent girls.
