NAN-H-39
Education
By Joan Nwagwu
Abuja, June 12, 2017 (NAN) Free education for the Nigerian children has the capacity to eliminate child labour in the country, an official of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Abuja, has said.
ILO’s Focal Person for Child Labour, Mrs Agatha Kolawole, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday against the backdrop of the World Day Against Child Labour, celebrated on every June 12.
Kolawole described the 2017 theme for the day “In Conflicts and Disasters, Protect Children from Child Labour’’, as a call to protect children displaced by conflicts in the country.
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“For now, a lot has been done by the Nigerian government; we have legislation on child labour, a national policy on the elimination of child labour which has been in existence in Nigeria.
“So, these are relevant tools for enforcing and ensuring that children are protected.
“We have the Child Rights Act and the Labour Act; so we actually have a good enabling legislative environment that will help the children.
“But we also know that we have a lot of gaps that need to be considered, especially in the educational sector.
“We need the government to ensure totally free education which will help children to actually attend school – at least the basic education should be free, free from all forms of fees.
“Sometimes some (states) governments talks about free education, but we know some of these hidden fees send so many children out of school.’’
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Kolawole stressed the need for relevant agencies to enforce the child rights act to eliminate child labour.
According to her, this has become imperative as a lot of children are found in jobs that do not allow them to realise their potentials, hence parents lack the capacity to keep them in school.
“And then enforcement of the act, we need enforcement. We need the law enforcement officers to be pro active in their action.
“They should go out there and identify victims of child labour and protect them.’’
The focal person said it is not the responsibility of the child to provide for the home, noting that many parents abused their children by making them work to support the family.
She said ILO would continue to support capacity building for the law enforcement agency on the elimination of child labour in the country.
Kolawole noted that many children had been displaced and were currently in the Internally Displace Persons (IDPs) camps due to conflicts and insurgency.
She said ILO was collaborating with Plan International to develop toolkits to support children needs in an emergency situation.
“So, with the toolkits we have the plan to train social workers, law enforcement officers, teachers, care givers, on how to protect children in an emergency, conflict or disaster situation.’’ (NAN)
JAN/LAB/YEE
Edited by Lydia Beshel/Emmnuel Yashim
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