15 million Nigerian children trapped in child labour, says FG

The Federal Government has raised concern over rising cases of child labour in Nigeria, which it puts at 15 million children.

The number is part of the global figure of 160 million children found to be drafted to child labour practices, according to the International Labour Organisation.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Kachollom Daju, gave the figures weekend at a stakeholders’ meetibng in Abuja.

Daju noted that children who should be seen as leaders of the future ought not to be exposed to such practices at a tender age but rather shown love and properly catered for, in the interest of the country.

The PS said, “Child labour is a multidimensional development concern. It cuts across various lines: economic, social, religious, cultural and regional divides.

”The worst forms of child labour constitute exploitation and gross violation of human rights for both boys and girls, causing physical, emotional, and mental consequences for the child. Such violations take place at the household level, community level, institutions, and business areas.

“In Nigeria, child labour has become a scourge. Several children find themselves on the streets, forced to make a living, with others employed in industrial complexes and hazardous environments.

“This is attributable to various factors, such as poverty, ignorance, unemployment, absence of social security for the vulnerable, misinterpretation of cultural and religious beliefs and weak institutional framework.

“Statistics revealed that there are no fewer than 15 million child workers in Nigeria; this is according to the ILO, with the UN warning that the absence of mitigating strategies could see an exponential increase in the number of children engaged in child labour.”

Deju however said the FG was seriously fighting the scourge.

“As a country however, we take pride in stating that giant strides have been made in dealing with this menace, most notably the adoption and ratification of ILO Conventions 138 and 182 on Minimum Age and Worst forms of Child Labour respectively; the passage of the Child Rights Act into law to domesticate the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by 35 state governments and the FCT.”

Meanwhile, the Director, ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Liaison Office for ECOWAS, Ms Venessa Phala, said at the stakeholders meetibng in Abuja that children have a right to better lives than engage in forced labour practices just to shore up income on behalf of their parents.

She said, “We all know that the number of children engaging in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide, which is represents an increase of 8.4 million children when compared with the last report.

“In eradicating the scourge of child labour and force labour in Nigeria, concerted efforts are required from all stakeholders, part of which is the development of monitoring infrastructure to determine and measure its magnitude, distribution, dimensions and characteristics at the national and sub-national levels.”