I pass the same route almost
every day on my way to work, and I have for almost a year now. I see the same
girl clothed in what could have been considered decent clothes maybe three
years ago. She can’t be older than eight years old. I see her doing the same
thing every single day; she’s either bent over ‘fanning’ the firewood fumes or
knee sprung on the floor peeling plantain or some other fruit or vegetable.
At first, I thought nothing of this view
after all it doesn’t hurt to be ‘responsible’ at an early age. Yes?
But then again, it occurred to me
that I had never seen her in a school uniform or was her school perpetually on
a holiday? And even if she was wearing a uniform, was that her school premises?
Child labour in domestic work goes highly unnoticed in this society of ours mainly because it’s almost ‘subtle’, if I dare say. And in most cases, the accused perpetrators of the act always give the excuse of insufficient finance and the need to make extra cash for the family. I don’t pretend to be ignorant about our country’s deplorable economic state. However, my question to these people is always the same, is depriving yourself the chance at a ‘better life’ by denying your child an education (A right that is so ‘rightly’ his) worth the sacrifice in the long run?
Child labour in domestic work goes highly unnoticed in this society of ours mainly because it’s almost ‘subtle’, if I dare say. And in most cases, the accused perpetrators of the act always give the excuse of insufficient finance and the need to make extra cash for the family. I don’t pretend to be ignorant about our country’s deplorable economic state. However, my question to these people is always the same, is depriving yourself the chance at a ‘better life’ by denying your child an education (A right that is so ‘rightly’ his) worth the sacrifice in the long run?
As we join the rest of the world
to mark the World Day Against Child Labour 2013 with this year’s theme ‘No To Child Labour In Domestic Work’,let
us not forget that these children have no one to speak up for them. You are
their voice, the key to their justice and sometimes, their only way out.
In a new report issued for World Day Against Child Labour, find
below some heart breaking statistics about our children.
·
A staggering 15 million children under the age of 14 are working across Nigeria.
Many are exposed to long hours of work in dangerous and unhealthy environments,
carrying too much responsibility for their age.
·
About six
million working children in Nigeria, equally split between boys and girls, do not attend school at all
·
Over
eight million children manage, at least partly, to stay in school and work
in their spare time to pay education fees
·
In Nigeria, child labour does mostly occur in semi-formal
and informal businesses with hundreds of thousands young domestic servants,
mainly working for prosperous urban families. Domestic servants are the least
visible category and often sexually harassed
·
The International Labour Organization (ILO) warns
that a staggeringly high number of children are still caught in hazardous work
– some 115 million of the world’s 215 million child labourers
·
The report also says that although the overall
number of children aged 5 to 17 in hazardous work declined between 2004 and
2008, the number aged 15-17 actually increased by 20 per cent during the same
period, from 52 million to 62 million
- Most of the decline in the total numbers of children in hazardous work is among girls
- Over 60 per cent of children in hazardous work are boys
- Hazardous work is more commonly found in agriculture including fishing, forestry, livestock-herding and aquaculture in addition to subsistence and commercial farming.
Where Do Children In Nigeria Work?
·
Public places such as streets and markets
- Street vendors (64%)
- Industries and mechanic workshops
- Beggars (13%)
- Mechanic / Vulcanizers (24%)
- Bus conductors (17%)
- Shoe shiners (4%)
- Iron / metal workers (6%)
- Car washers/watchers (6%)
- Carpenters (14%),
- Tailors / weavers (14%)
- Scavengers (5%)
- Hairdressers / barbers (18%)
- Feet washers (8%)
- Caterers (8%)
- Semi-public settings such as cottage
- Private households
- Domestic servants
- Agricultural plantation and quarries
- Farm and quarry workers
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