Early Childhood Care and Education: Revolutionary and Functional Foundations for National Development in Nigeria

Investments in human capital are the right directions for national development as those invested in today become the carrier of the genes that trigger the national development of the state and the right foundation for achieving this vision is through investments in early childhood care and education. Early childhood care and education is beneficial in many ways: learners who go through it develop receptive dispositions towards learning and education, in addition to quickly internalizing behaviours that are conducive and supportive of robust and vibrant academic pursuits and achievements. Regrettably early childhood care and education in Nigeria is exclusively in the hands of the private sector where its provision has become commercialized and elitist as not many parents can afford to pay the fees for their children. Using the philosophical methodology, this paper discusses the place of early childhood care and education in the national development of states particularly Nigeria and attributes Nigeria’s neglect and lackadaisical attitudes towards early childhood care and education to be the root cause of Nigeria’s national development predicaments and challenges. The paper makes recommendations, part of which is that the Nigerian state should adopt early childhood care and education as a means of implementing inclusive and social justice policy and that private sector investors who provide essential service that government ought to provide like Early childhood care and education should be handsomely compensated among others. Keywords: Early Childhood Care and Education, National development, Functional Foundations, Social justice and Nigeria.