from Idu Jude Abuja
Worried over the reports of the prevalence of child labour practices in both the cocoa farming, tobacco and artisanal mining sectors in Nigeria, the Director General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), and the International Labour Organization ILO, has raised concern over the urgent need to end the menace without questions.
The domestication of Child labour in Nigeria, it could be recalled, has since 6th Assembly suffered set back as many States of the Federation has failed to domesticate the act.
To this end both NOA and the ILO during a workshop organized for community mobilization workers over the weekend in Ondo state, directed that all the affected states including Ondo, Osun and Niger States to urgently deploy sensitization programmes to create more awareness about the dangers of child labour in these areas and Nigeria in general.
The Ondo State Director, of NOA, Adelayo Adefolalu, who represented the NOA DG during the workshop, further clarified that “the capacity of the Agency to prosecute The National Social and Behavioural Change Communication (NSBCC) Strategy for elimination of child labour will be enhanced if the ILO considers extending the partnership under the second phase of the project expected to take off in the third quarter of the year”.
Dr. Abari also reminded that the ACCEL Africa Project of the ILO, sponsored by the Dutch government, assigns the lead role to NOA in the implementation of the National Social and Behavioural Change Communication strategy of the campaign to eliminate child labour in Nigeria.
Dr. Agatha Kolawole who is the National Coordinator of the ACCEL Africa project, said the ILO recognises the importance of the NOA structure in disseminating information to the grassroots and hoped that the information officers commit itself to the task. For her, despite global efforts, incidence of child labour is growing in Nigeria and requires the concerted effort of all, including community leaders, government at all levels and the private sector to remedy the situation.
Those who attended the training include the War Against Indiscipline (WAI) brigade volunteers, to operate at the community level and are expected to lead the advocacy and persuasive enforcement of the Child Right Act, Labour Act and other legal frameworks which prohibit the engagement of minors in hazardous tasks and tasks that prevent them from gaining basic education.