Proposed child labour policy
Friday, April 28, 2006

At last, the Federal Government appears set to address the festering problem of child exploitation in the country with a policy on child labour. A draft of the policy, which is currently in circulation, identifies the odious practice as a formidable challenge in view of its negative impact on the social, moral, cognitive and physical development of children. It provides guidelines for all stakeholders who are involved in the battle for the elimination of child labour in Nigeria.

The move by the Federal Government to formulate a policy on child labour coincides with the announcement of an amendment to the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003, to include a fine of N100,000 or imprisonment for five years, or both, for any person who employs a child as a domestic help outside his home or family environment.

The Executive Secretary of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP), Mrs Carol Ndaguba, who made the amendment public, said corporate offenders would be liable to a N250,000 fine.

The criminalisation of the use of children as domestic servants and the move to formulate a policy on child labour, are welcome developments. A nation that is concerned about its future cannot afford to have its children, not only outside the school system, but engaged in unprofitable and inhumane labour.

The use of underage children for labour is an unwholesome practice that is frowned upon worldwide. Some 250 million children are reported to be engaged in it, according to International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates. Many of these children are said to be found in Africa, with Nigeria having an estimated 15 million of her children under 18 engaged in mining, fishing, transport industry, agriculture and forced domestic services.

Our recent experience has been that some of these children are also engaged in the worst forms of the aberration, notably, prostitution, debt bondage, international trafficking and sometimes, outright sale and bondage into compulsory and forced labour.

Many factors have been held to be responsible for this unhealthy situation. They include poverty, cultural practices, large family sizes, illiteracy, unemployment and ignorance on the part of parents of the fate of children who are forced into the labour market at a tender age.
Now that the Federal Government is ready to tackle the problem of child labour, we advise that the policy under formulation is made to take cognizance of our local realities.

Note must be taken of our peculiar cultural practice, which allows members of the extended family and even non-relatives, to live with persons of a higher socio-economic class, who are able to offer them a better standard of living and some form of vocational training in exchange for assistance with domestic work.

This mentoring system is an age-old cultural practice which serves as a social safety net, if not a lifeline, for children from the most impoverished homes who may otherwise not make it to adulthood or get the opportunity of a better life, but for the opportunity to live with benevolent benefactors.

It is important that this culturally acceptable practice is distinguished from the worst forms of child labour in which children are sold outrightly or forced into prostitution or long hours of forced, hard labour on mining sites and agricultural plantations.

The provisions of the policy, when it eventually comes into force, must be effectively communicated to relevant stakeholders, including people in the rural areas, and also strictly enforced, if its objective of stopping child exploitation is to be met.