As Nigeria joins the rest of the World to mark the 2023 International Child Labour Day, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has called on President Ahmed Bola Tinubu to take necessary measures to put an end to the menace of child labour and all forms of maltreatment of children in Nigeria.
President of UNESCO REF in Nigeria, Prince Abdulsalami Ladigbolu, made the call in a message to commemorate the 2023 International Child Labour Day, which was made available to newsmen on Monday in Abuja. He insisted that the Nigerian child must be in school not on the streets as hawkers or child labour in mining and quarrying.
He noted that June 12 of every year is set aside by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to remind the world about the menace of child labour in the society.
According to the UN Agency, an estimated 250 million children are subjected to one form of child labour or the other globally with Ladigbolu saying that this necessitated the strident call for countries, especially Nigeria with one of the largest share of this figure, to work with genuine stakeholders in proffering solution to the menace and make the country a better place for the children who are leaders of tomorrow.
He said: “Although child labour is a complex phenomenon and seems to have prevailed despite its being hazardous with associated consequences on the child and the laws of the land.
“We should also remember that child labour is a global issue and not peculiar to any country. An estimated 250 million children are working worldwide. This is important to remind us of the need for collective effort to address the menace because the majority of the children undergoing these circumstances are meant to be in school.
“As a concerned citizen and strong believer and supporter of smart intellectuals, I urge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to take stronger action and strategic dynamics to address the issue more proactively, and outline what to do and how, with emphasis on partnership with genuine stakeholders who care about proffering solutions and not educational vendors,” he stated.
He added, “according to A. Abdu, I. Rabiu, A. L. Usman in their publication titled: Effect of Child Labour on Children’s Education in Katsina State, Nigeria, ‘Child Labour has become devilishly ubiquitous with negative implications on Nigerian child’s development. Unfortunately, most research concentrated on child labour issues at national level while little exist in literature at state level particularly Katsina.”
“I agree with these because we need to carefully study the factors contributing to child’s labour in various states/communities so that we can come up with a sincere and holistic action plan because the menace seems increasing and changing in pattern; putting into consideration the generic factor and issues contributing towards the child labour scrambling for purchasing power to cater for their immediate needs.
“This can be attributed to the widening income inequality due to dwindling economy and food insecurity that have become a social reality in Nigeria has left a gigantic proportion of the population below poverty line and as such a major push factor of children into labour (UNICEF, 2001), pushing these underage children to undue labour meant for adults.
“As I congratulate President Tinubu as the newly sworn-in 16th President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and wishing him a Happy Democracy Day, I challenge him to enhance the Child labor issues into the policy dialogue in the country effectively and undertake more Economic and Sector Works (ESWs).
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