Toivo translates research into advocacy. We publish policy commentaries and briefs on legislation, government data, and structural gaps affecting Nigerian families, evidence that demands a response, and analysis that points toward one.
Policy briefs are Toivo's full research publications, in-depth analyses across multiple dimensions of family policy in Nigeria, with evidence-based recommendations for government, donors, and implementing organisations. Available for download. May be reproduced for non-commercial purposes with attribution.
Toivo's commentaries are shorter, analytically focused responses to data releases, legislation, and government decisions that affect Nigerian families. Each piece follows a single line of evidence to a specific conclusion about what that evidence demands of those with the power to act on it.
Nigeria's Labour Act does not regulate the birth of a child. It regulates the temporary incapacitation of a female worker. That distinction determines who is covered, what the leave is designed to accomplish, and what outcomes the law treats as irrelevant. A structural analysis of the category error at the foundation of Nigeria's parental leave framework.
A structural analysis of Nigeria's donor-dependent family health infrastructure, exposed by the 2025 USAID withdrawal. The USAID withdrawal did not create Nigeria's maternal health crisis. It revealed the one that was already there, and the domestic financing logic that was never built to replace it.
Sixty-three percent of Nigerians lived below the poverty line in 2025. The debate that followed has been almost entirely macroeconomic. Toivo asks the harder question: what does that figure mean for the families living inside it, for pregnant women, new mothers, and children whose developmental trajectory is being shaped by conditions policy has not addressed.
The World Bank's April 2026 Nigeria Development Update documented that 110 in every 1,000 Nigerian children die before age five, 40% are stunted, and 52% are not developmentally on track before school entry. The report was removed from public access within days. The childhood findings were never disputed. Toivo examines what these numbers mean, and why they must remain part of Nigeria's policy conversation.
Nigeria scored zero out of 100 on parenthood policies in the World Bank Women, Business and the Law 2026 report, the lowest possible score. No qualifying federal protections for pregnant workers, no mandated paid paternity leave, no government-administered maternity support. Toivo examines what this measurement reveals about the policy environment Nigerian families actually inhabit.
More policy commentaries and briefs are forthcoming. Subscribe via the contact page to receive new publications directly.