FG Seeks Media Support to Eradicate Child Labour in Nigeria

By Onyebuchi Ezigbo

The federal government has said that it will partner with journalists and the mass media in the campaign to eliminate and prevent child labour in the country.

Following the rising incidence of child labour and abuse of children in the country, the government said there is need to create more awareness on the dangers of child labour, and the efforts to prevent and eliminate this hydra-headed monster.

While declaring open a one day workshop on Reportage of Elimination of Child Labour organised by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment on Thursday in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. Yerima Tarfa, said that Nigeria is working on achieving a significant milestone in the elimination of child labour practices.

He said that child labour and other forms of modern day slavery are issues of grave concern in the global arena on account of their dire consequences, and the persistence of those consequences through generations of families.

He added that the role of journalists and the mass media in the campaign to eliminate and prevent child labour is central in the strategy and the policies of elimination of child labour.

“This workshop has become necessary because of the need to create awareness and mobilizing the critical public in the fight against child labour.

“Journalists have the responsibility to educate the critical stakeholders and the general public on the negative impacts of child labour, and at the same time enlighten the public on the safety nets, as well as the school programmes designed by government as preventive measures against child labour, and support for survivors,” he said.

Tarfa pledged that the ministry will endeavour to implement strategies and policies to prevent child labour and support survivors.

One of the resource persons at the workshop and the Deputy Director, Inspectorate Division in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mrs. Olaolu Olaitan, described child labour as a form of exploitative work or forced labour children are subjected to at the detriment of their health and normal growth.

She said that a lot of children have been made to work under harmful conditions and for various reasons.

According to Olaitan, an estimated 160 million children were subjected to child labour condition as at 2020, with 9 million additional children at the risk due to impact of COVID-19.

She further said one in every 10 children worldwide is engaged in hazardous work, adding that almost half of them were made do things that endanger their health and moral development.

Earlier while welcoming participants to the workshop, the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations in the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Mr. Charles Akpan, said the idea of convening the workshop was to create avenues for better partnership between the government and the media in conveying policies and programmes aimed at eliminating child labour in the country.

Akpan said that he hope that at the conclusion of the workshop, participants would have been able to understand the collective responsibility of the state and non-state actors such as parents, children, social partners, employers and workers organisation, policy makers, law enforcement agencies, and especially the media in ending child labour now.

On his part, the Acting Director of the Inspectorate Division in the Ministry, Mr. Ajuwon Dauda, said that poverty has been identified as one of the major causes and sustenance of child labour in the country.

On the way forward, he said there is need for greater synergy among stakeholders, such government, media, civil society organizations, donor partners and multinational entities towards tackling the social manace.