Why cases of child labour is increasing in Nigeria — NLC

child labour 1
Share this story

THE Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has given the International Labour Organisation, ILO, insight into the reasons behind the upsurge in cases of child labour in the country.

Consequently, NLC is pleading for global assistance to address the challenges, explaining that “poverty and socio-economic dispossession are at the heart of the dominant and spiking state of the incidence of child and forced labour in Nigeria.

In an intervention by Labour movement in Nigeria in the ongoing 111th Session of the International Labour Conference, Head of NLC’s International Relations, Uche Ekwe, told ILO’s committee that it agreed with the committee’s submission that the country’s interventions have failed to address the menace.

Advertisement

To order your copy, send a WhatsApp message to +1 317 665 2180

He said: “Insecurity remains a severe challenge militating against the preservation of the environment for the development of children in schools and playgrounds. In North-East Nigeria, the activities of criminal and violent groups have persisted. As the experts have rightly noted, these groups have continued to utilise and exploit children as ‘fighters,’ cannon fodders and kidnapped victims to extract ransoms to finance their violent operations.

“Our country would need support to degrade, displace and defeat these elements. Further, it would be desirable for the Nigerian state to be able to effectively extract children involved in violent activities and victims of security-challenged environments. The government must also be able to effectively rehabilitate and reintegrate these children into a stable, safe and healthy environment.

“Given the traumatic and mental-joggling experience these children are subjected and exposed to, it is pertinent that psychological and mental health counselling and assistance should be provided in doses and frequency necessary to heal and help them reintegrate into their communities.

“As organised labour and parents, we genuinely worry about where children continue to be enslaved, utilised in forced and bonded labour and trafficked within, through and outside our country. We are distraught with the legal and administrative systems that allow perpetrators, handlers and sponsors to get away with very light sanctions. This Committee must encourage, support and work with the Nigerian government with the inclusion of social partners to review and revamp existing pieces of legislation.

“As a show of our commitment to being part of the solution to this endemic crisis, the Nigeria Labour Congress pledges to be a member of the Alliance 8.7 to be more active in the fight against all forms of child labour in Nigeria.

Advertisements

“The state of labour inspection in Nigeria has remained lax and almost non-existent, which is also partly responsible for the cases of the growing incidence of child labour and the exploitation of children.

“In the past, this Committee has made the point about the need to improve the labour inspection regime in Nigeria through a well-defined plan to improve systems, personnel, materials and schedules in a scalable manner. We ask that this request be reiterated with urgency and the addition of the provision of a roadmap for implementation.

“In all sincerity, poverty and socio-economic dispossession are at the heart of the dominant and spiking state of the incidence of child and forced labour in Nigeria. These issues exacerbate in ways that the worst forms of child labour are increasingly becoming normalised. The 2022 Multi-dimensional Poverty Index survey reveals that 133 million people live in different poverty stages, representing a staggering 63 per cent of Nigeria’s population.

“It is also disturbing that out of Nigeria’s 216 million population, 20 million children are disadvantaged due to a lack of access to education. UNESCO has confirmed that the country now has 20 million out-of-school children. We are worried that governments at all levels have made lightweight commitments to investment in education.

“World Bank figures show that Nigeria’s public investment in education fell from 7.5 per cent in 2019 to 5.1 per cent in 2022. Several State Governments are sacking teachers, and most are withholding and delaying the payment of salaries, and wage freeze imposed for several years. As organised labour, we have continued to advocate for the defeat of Illicit Financial Flow activities of tax avoidance, evasion and dodging as part of the interventions to improve internal and alternative resource mobilisation possibilities, which will increase governments’ chances of financing public services such as education and public health provisions.

“Poverty is forcing many children to be absent, skip classes, and drop out after successful enrolment. The situation is worse for the girl-child, who often is recruited by the family as an additional hand in the family business rather than be sent to school. This kind of choice entrenches and sustains feminisation and generational poverty.

Advertisements

“In the past eight years and counting, we have continued to witness the worsening of families’ economic situation on account of successive governments’ voodoo fiscal and macroeconomic policies. Household poverty mirrors child labour in Nigeria.

“We urge this Committee to assist the government in formulating and implementing socio-economic policies that will effectively target and address child poverty and child labour. The development and deployment of an expanded and enriched social protection provision programme can help.”

Advertisements

Credit: Vanguard

Do you have an important success story, news, or opinion article to share with with us? Get in touch with us at publisher@thepodiummedia.com or ademolaakinbola@gmail.com Whatsapp +1 317 665 2180

Join our WhatsApp Group to receive news and other valuable information alerts on WhatsApp.


Share this story
Advertisements
jsay-school

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

sanya-onayoade

Sanya Onayoade

Continental Editor, North America

SANYA ONAYOADE is a graduate of Mass Communication and a Master of Communication Arts degree holder from the University of Ibadan. He has attended local and international courses on Media, Branding, Public Relations and Corporate Governance in many institutions including the University of Pittsburgh; Reuters Foundation of Rhodes University, South Africa and Lagos Business School. He has worked in many newspaper houses including The Guardian and The Punch. He was the pioneer Corporate Affairs Manager of Odua Telecoms Ltd, and later Head of Business Development and Marketing of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO Plc).

He has led business teams to several countries in the US, Asia and Europe; and was part of an Aviation investment drive in West Africa. He has also driven media and brand consultancy for a few organizations such as the British Council, Industrial Training Fund, PKF Audit/Accounting Firm and Nigeria Stability and Reconciliation Programme. He is a Fellow of Freedom House, Washington DC, and also Fellow of Institute of Brand Management of Nigeria. Sanya is a member of Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria (APCON) and Project Management Institute (PMI). He is a 1998 Commonwealth Media Awards winner and the Author of A Decade Of Democracy.
Morak Babajide-Alabi

Morak Babajide-Alabi

Continental Editor, Europe

Morak Babajide-Alabi is a graduate of Mass Communication with a Master of Arts Degree in Journalism from Napier University, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. He is an experienced Social Media practitioner with a strong passion for connecting with customers of brands.

Morak works as part of a team currently building an e-commerce project for the Volkswagen Group UK. Before this, he worked on the social media accounts of SKODA, Audi, SEAT, CUPRA, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. In this job, he brought his vast experience in journalism, marketing, and search engine optimisation to play to make sure the brands are well represented on social media. He monitored the performance of marketing campaigns and data analysis of all volumes of social media interaction for the brands.

In his private capacity, Morak is the Chief Operating Officer of Syllable Media Limited, an England-based marketing agency with head office in Leeds, West Yorkshire. The agency handles briefs such as creative writing, ghostwriting, website designs, and print and broadcast productions, with an emphasis on search engine optimisation. Syllable Media analyses, reviews, and works alongside clients to maximise returns on their businesses.

Morak is a writer, blogger, journalist, and social media “enthusiast”. He has several publications and projects to his credit with over 20 years of experience writing and editing for print and online media in Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

Morak is a dependable team player who succeeds in a high-pressure environment. He started his professional career with the flagship of Nigerian journalism – The Guardian Newspapers in 1992 where he honed his writing and editing skills before joining TELL Magazine. He has edited, reported for, and produced newspapers and magazines in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Morak is involved in the development of information management tools for the healthcare sector in Africa. He is on the board of DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited, a company with branches in London, Lagos, and Abuja, to make healthcare information available at the fingertips of professionals. DeMiTAG HealthConcepts Limited achieved this by collaborating with notable informatics companies. It had partnered in the past with Avia Informatics Plc and i2i TeleSolutions Pvt.

Out of work, Morak loves walking and also volunteers on the board of a few UK Charity Organisations. He can be reached via http://www.syllablemedia.com
Ademola-Akinbola

Ademola Akinbola

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

Brief Profile of Ademola Akinbola

Ademola AKINBOLA is an author, publisher, trainer, digital marketing strategist, and a brand development specialist with nearly three decades of experience in the areas of branding, communication, corporate reputation management, business development, organizational change management, and digital marketing.

He is the Founder and Head Steward at BrandStewards Limited, a brand and reputation management consultancy. He is also the Publisher of The Podium International Magazine, Ile-Oluji Times, and Who’s Who in Ile-Oluji.

He had a successful media practice at The Guardian, Punch and This Day.

He started his brand management career at Owena Bank as Media Relations Manager before joining Prudent Bank (now Polaris Bank) as the pioneer Head of Corporate Affairs.

The British Council appointed him as Head of Communication and Marketing to co-ordinate branding and reputation management activities at its Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt offices.

In 2007, he was recruited as the Head of Corporate Planning and Strategy for the Nigerian Aviation Handling company. He led on the branding, strategic planning and stakeholder management support function.

His job was later expanded and redesigned as Head of Corporate Communication and Business Development with the mandate to continue to execute the Board’s vision in the areas of Corporate Planning and Strategy, Branding and New Businesses.

In 2010, he voluntarily resigned from nacho aviance to focus on managing BrandStewards, a reputation and brand management firm he established in 2003. BrandStewards has successfully executed branding, re-branding and marketing communication projects for clients in the private and public sectors.

Ademola obtained a M.Sc. Degree in Digital Marketing & Web Analytics from Dublin Institute of Technology in 2016, and the Master of Communication Arts degree of the University of Ibadan in 1997. He had previously obtained a Higher National Diploma (with Upper Credit) in Mass Communication from Ogun State Polytechnic, Abeokuta.

He has published several articles and authored five management books.

He has benefitted from several domestic and international training programmes on Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Change Management and Organizational Strategy.
Open chat
Hello. Do you want to keep receiving our stories via WhatsApp? Send us a message!