Child Labour Prevalence: Unmistakable Evidence in Nigeria's Ominous Parenting Practices
In Nigeria, the issue of child labor remains a significant concern, affecting approximately 15 million children. This complex problem takes various forms, including domestic work, street begging, farm work and fishing, mining and quarrying, child trafficking and forced labor, and harmful work such as slavery, prostitution, and trafficking.
Child labor exposes children to numerous health risks, including injuries, illnesses, and diseases. It also results in severe consequences for children, including physical and emotional damage, injury, illness, death, low self-esteem, and poor social interaction.
Parents play a crucial role in preventing child labor. They should provide for their children's basic needs, including shelter, food, clothing, and education, and ensure that their children are not involved in any dangerous or hazardous work. Engaging communities through community-based organizations is also crucial for developing strategies and programs that provide viable alternatives to child labor, such as education and vocational training.
Poverty and unemployment are significant drivers of child labor in Nigeria, with many children trapped in a cycle of poverty and exploitation. To address this, efforts are being made to align private sector child labor monitoring systems with government systems to provide coordinated support to affected families. The International Cocoa Initiative extends its work into Nigeria, supporting policy dialogue and technical assistance to strengthen child labor monitoring and remediation systems, improve access to education, social services, and social protection, and boost household incomes in cocoa-growing areas.
Stronger legislative policies and regulatory frameworks are needed to protect children from exploitation in the workplace. This includes setting a minimum age for employment, providing fair wages, and favorable working conditions. Nigeria has various laws and policies that aim to protect children from exploitation and abuse, such as the Child Rights Act and the National Policy on Child Labor. However, these laws are often not enforced. At the government level, some states like Edo have reaffirmed their commitment to protecting children's rights, including the domestication of the Child Rights Act to provide stronger legal protections for children.
Employers frequently subject children engaged in domestic work, street vending, and farm labor to physical abuse and exploitation. Education and awareness campaigns are necessary to sensitize parents, employers, and the general public on the dangers of child labor, conducted in local languages and targeted at communities where child labor is prevalent.
Empowering parents is crucial, achieved through livelihood support like skill acquisition programs and micro-credit facilities, reducing reliance on their children's income. Encouraging children's creativity and imagination is also essential, providing them with tools and resources like art supplies or books that divert their attention from exploitative work and allow them to explore their interests.
The ACCEL Africa Project, a regional initiative funded by the Netherlands, aims to eliminate child labor in key supply chains such as cocoa, cotton, coffee, tea, and gold. It targets root causes like lack of social protection, poor adult livelihoods, and school-to-work transitions. The Nigeria Employers' Consultative Association (NECA) is also calling for urgent, united, and concrete actions to end child exploitation, emphasizing the responsibilities of employers to ensure child-labor-free operations and advocating for swift legislative reforms to better regulate child labor. NECA stresses the importance of holistic solutions that address poverty, enforce labor laws, and improve educational access.
Together, these strategies prioritize strengthening enforcement of laws, improving social protection, promoting decent work for adults, ensuring education access, and fostering collaboration among government, private sector, and civil society to accelerate the elimination of child labor and safeguard children's rights in Nigeria.
- Parents should ensure their children receive proper education, nutrition, and shelter, to prevent them from becoming involved in child labor.
- In the realm of education and self-development, engaging communities and employing community-based organizations can help develop alternatives to child labor, such as education and vocational training.
- Employers should avoid subjecting children to physical abuse and exploitation, especially in domestic work, street vending, and farm labor.
- To empower parents, livelihood support like skill acquisition programs and micro-credit facilities should be provided, reducing their dependence on their children's income.
- The ACCEL Africa Project aims to eliminate child labor in key supply chains across Africa by addressing root causes such as lack of social protection, poor adult livelihoods, and school-to-work transitions.
- To safeguard children's rights, the Nigeria Employers' Consultative Association (NECA) calls for urgent actions against child exploitation, emphasizing the importance of collaboration among government, private sector, and civil society, and advocating for better labor laws enforcement and improved educational access.
