Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has linked the scourge of child labor to pervasive poverty in the African continent.
Ngige made the remark on Wednesday while addressing the International Labour Organisation (ILO) 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour, held in Durban, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa.
A statement signed by Mr. Olajide Oshundun, Deputy Director, Press, and Public Relations in the ministry, made this known in Abuja.
He said that the current administration in Nigeria had adopted a multi-pronged approach to fighting child labor through a reduction in the poverty index, in spite of teething challenges.
The minister, who co-chaired the day’s panel, said Nigeria faced numerous challenges in the fight against child labor but was doing everything possible to stem the social malaise.
According to him, the challenges in the fight to eradicate child labor include low revenue earnings due to a fall in crude oil prices and production, and over-dependence on imported goods or items.
The minister listed others as low agricultural production and the consequential economic recession.
He attributed the worsening scenario in Nigeria to the COVID-19 pandemic which stagnated economic activities all over the world, pushing the country into a second economic recession in 2020.
“Even before the present administration, poverty had crept into Nigeria’s socio-economic firmament and accentuated child labor with many non-working age persons taking to farming and artisanal mining."
“Also, the educational curriculum not properly developed to give the right and proper skills in the secondary and tertiary institutions compounded matters."
“High rate of school dropouts among children also became a major issue and a catchment pool for Child Labour."
”Also, decent jobs for young persons gave way to informal, hazardous jobs, such as illegal refining of petroleum products which has claimed scores of lives with attendant pollution,” he said.
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Ngige added that others were the poor working in the heavy construction industry and ill-equipped persons handling dangerous chemicals in industries.
He however said that to reverse poverty which was at the root of child labor, the Federal Government had rolled out various measures including the diversification of the economy.
According to him, this is through agriculture revolution-provision of fertilizers, grants to farmers, quick yields, and agricultural extension.
He said the other measures were the stoppage of unnecessary importation of commodities such as rice, potato, and beans and the blockage of revenue leakages.
Ngige, therefore, said the government was boosting Technical and Vocational Training Education, through the restructuring of the entire secondary and tertiary education curricula.
He explained that the government had introduced free education at the primary and junior secondary levels as well as a school feeding program to tackle low school enrolment.
“We equally have Adhoc employment schemes, like the National Youth Service Corps scheme for all graduates of tertiary institutions under 30 years, N-POWER program for one million unemployed persons.
”We also have social security programs, like Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), survival funds, and entrepreneurship loans. The establishment of the Occupational and Safety Health Commission is in progress,” he said.
He added that though these efforts were yielding fruits, the Nigerian Government still needed technical support from the ILO.
The event was declared open by the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa.
