Child labor affects around 15m children in Nigeria – ILO.

Ibekimi Oriamaja Reports

The International Labour Organization, ILO, reported over the weekend that 15 million children are involved in child labor in Nigeria.

This is according to the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association, which has identified communities in Niger, Ondo, and Osun states where child labor is rampant.

Speaking at the official launch of the “CHILD LABOUR GUIDANCE TOOL FOR BUSINESSES IN NIGERIA,” Vanessa Phala, Director of ILO Country Office for Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone and Liaison Office for ECOWAS, stated that the crisis has worsened since 2015, when the ILO and International Organization for Employers, IOE, released practical guidance for employers explaining how to identify and prevent child labor in businesses.

She, on the other hand, expressed optimism that the guide’s proper implementation would actually solve the difficulties of child labor’s supply chain.

“In Nigeria, not less than 15 million children are involved in child labor, with half of this number bearing the heavy burden of dangerous job,” she says. Before I go any further, I’d want to let you know that the National Child Labor and Forced Labor Survey report will be available soon.

“In the last two years, Nigeria has made significant progress toward the abolition of child labor.” However, more concerted measures are required if we are to attain zero tolerance for child labor. We believe that, as labor employers, this guidance tool will serve as a constant reminder that eliminating child labor is a communal duty, and that you have a critical role to play in the worldwide effort to achieve Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7.

“With the direct support of NECA, the ILO’s ACCEL Africa Project has organized a series of interventions, including conducting studies, developing guides, and building the capacity of child labor focal persons in NECA member companies; formalizing associations in the cocoa and mining sectors to ensure the institutionalization of fair labor practices and decent work; and advocating for increased allocation of corporate social responsibility resources toward anti-child labor.”

Earlier, NECA President Taiwo Adeniyi stated that the launch is a watershed moment for our country and the “Accelerating action for the elimination of child labor in African supply chains” Project. It is a significant milestone in the ongoing operations of the ACCEL Project to promote the elimination of child labor in the cocoa and artisanal small-scale gold mining sectors in Nigeria.

Adeniyi, who was represented by NECA’s First Vice President, Kunle Oyelana, stated that Nigeria has strengthened and deepened the capacity of organizations and key stakeholders in the organized private sector on the urgent need to eliminate child labor practices and their impact on global supply chains in our country and the rest of the world since implementation from 2020 to date.

“There is no doubt that the Project has favorably benefited the focus regions in Nigeria,” he says, citing towns in Niger, Ondo, and Osun States where child labor is rampant. Many youngsters labor long hours in hazardous and unhealthy conditions, bearing much too much responsibility for their age. They work for little food, little pay, little education, and no medical care, creating a vicious cycle of child rights violations. This is despite Nigeria’s ratification of the International Labour Organization’s Child Labour Conventions 138 on the Minimum Age for Admission to Employment and 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

“NECA, as a premier Employers’ Association and the Voice of Business in Nigeria, would constantly push and raise awareness among supply chain actors regarding bad supplier employment practices and the benefits of responsible enterprises that do not use child labor.” Employers, we feel, should be at the forefront of promoting best practices.”

“On behalf of the Governing Council and Management of our Association, let me use this opportunity to recognize and appreciate the invaluable contribution of the Sponsors and key stakeholders of the ACCEL Africa Project – the International Labour Organization, ILO; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and government of the Netherlands; the Federal Government of Nigeri; and the Federal Government of Nigeria,” he said.