The World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) was inaugurated in 2002 by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and is celebrated annually on the 12th of June, it focuses attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it.
The Day aims to protect children by promoting international standards on child labour, raising awareness on this important issue and advocating for the basic right of education for all children.
According to ILO’s data, hundreds of millions of children throughout the world are involved in work that deprives them of receiving adequate education, health, leisure and basic freedoms.
Of these children, more than half are exposed to the worst forms of child labour which include working in hazardous environments, slavery and other forms of forced labour, illicit activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution, as well as involvement in armed conflict.
It is therefore pertinent that governments, employers and workers in organizations, civil society, as well as millions of people from around the world synergize on policies and reforms to eliminate this plight of child labourers and take care action on what can be done to help them.
According to the United Nation’s data, about 218 million children between 5 and 17 years are in employment globally. Among them, 152 million are victims of child labour and almost half of these child labour victims (72.1 million) are found in Africa.
Although, they are laws prohibiting child labour in Nigeria such as Child Rights Act 2003 and the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2003, Nigeria is still caught up in the issue of Child Labour as it is still on the increase due to a lack of enforcement of the law.
For instance, research findings contained in the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data indicates that about 50.8 percent of Nigerian children between 5 and 17 years are involved in one form of child labour or the other.
This figure is worrisome as the effect of child labour does not only affect the child, it affects the society in general.
In view of the World Day Against Child Labour, NOIPolls presents findings from a previous poll on Child Labour which assessed the opinions of Nigerians regarding its prevalence, the extent of its effects and the possible solutions to reduce it to the barest minimum.
The poll which was conducted in 2016 revealed that the larger proportion of Nigerians confirmed that they have personally seen children engaged in physical labour or jobs in their locality. Most respondents (70 percent) cited street hawking as the job most children engage in and a majority of respondents (45 percent) blamed it on poverty.
The poll also revealed that majority (41 percent) of the respondents advocated for free education as part of the suggestions for eliminating the issue of Child Labour in Nigeria.
The chart below showed that residents from the North-West accounted for the highest percentage of Nigerians (78 percent) who have personally seen children engaged in physical labour or jobs in their locality.
Also, analysis on age-group revealed that respondents aged between 18 and 35 years had the largest representation of Nigerians who acknowledged that they have personally seen children engaged in physical labour or job in their locality.
See details of the report here.