Minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige has asked the United States of America (USA) to extend technical assistance to Nigeria towards the elimination of child labour in Africa’s biggest economy.
Child labour refers to the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially or morally harmful.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) believes that worst form of child labour reinforces intergenerational cycles of poverty, undermines national economies and slows progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Ngige, who received in audience Mary Leonard, USA ambassador to Nigeria, Wednesday in Abuja, want Washington to assist the Nigerian government in establishing schools and clinics in areas where child labour is endemic in Nigeria.
According to the minister, such assistance would boost the efforts of the Nigeria n government in tackling child labour and its socio-economic consequences.
Ngige equally solicited for logistics support, such as the provision of vehicles to assist in labour inspections across Nigeria’s 36 states. He also urged the US government to initiate empowerment programmes in areas with high tendency for child labour as this would poverty, which is the cause of such practices.
He noted, however, that Nigeria has been making efforts and “we need support for the measures we have in place to tackle child labour.”
Ngige explained that the Nigerian government has been tackling the issues of child labour through the adoption of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention on Child Labour and Forced Labour, and has put up a national steering committee on child labour.
The minister observed that child and illegal labour thrive on poverty and illiteracy, and as such the government has put in place social investment programmes such as school feeding and free education as measures to attract children to school and out of child labour.
“The Universal Basic Education (UBE) Act makes it compulsory for children to attend school, and it has a punitive side to it that compels parents to enroll their children in school.”
He disclosed that the Nigerian government was in the process of upgrading its skill acquisition certificate to international standard to enable the holders fit in professionally anywhere in the world.
Leonard, the US ambassador was on a familiarisation visit to the ministry of labour employments.
JOSHUA BASSEY
