ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on social protection in Nigeria in the context of other current challenges such as terrorism and religious intolerance is imperative. Child-sensitive social protection deficits such as child trafficking, labor, and abuse weaken the overall sense of safety of the nation, despite the government's struggle to meet the challenges through legislations and programs. Such policies and programs are the Child's Rights Act, National HIV Policy, Care of Persons in Need (COPE), and Family Nutrition and Support Program (FNSP). It was observed that these laudable governmental interventions are fraught with enforcement issues, inadequate funding, fragmentation, and poor coordination. Indigenous Social Care (ISC) was identified as a complementary care system with practices, beliefs, and structures that are native to Nigerian communities. ISC practices are undergirded by strong African beliefs in supernatural forces, deities, and collectivist beliefs and customs. Such ISC practices as kinship care, traditional cash transfer programs, festivals and ceremonies, youth vigilante groups, and traditional power structures promote well-being.
