This is quite a revealing statistic. It was conducted on June 3, 2019 by NOIPolls, an opinion polling company based in Abuja, Nigeria.
The survey was conducted at the national level on child labor in Nigeria”, where a representative sample of Nigerians expressed their views on the prevalence, knowledge, possible causes of child labor and ways to reduce this threat.
The findings revealed that around 84% of Nigerians believe that the problem of child labor is prevalent in the country, stating that they typically see children engaged in various forms of labor in their respective localities.
However, data from the International Labor Organization (ILO) says the number of working children under the age of 14 in Nigeria, with an estimated population of 200 million people, is estimated at 15 million.
Dennis Zulu, ILO Country Director, dropped this hint during a 2-day workshop on ACCEL Africa, held on Friday May 3 in Abuja, where he further hinted that statistics revealed that 43% of children in Nigeria from between 5 and 10 years were involved. in child labor.
It was noted that the Children’s Rights Act, which was enacted into law in 2003, defines a child as one who is under the age of 18 and categorically states that the best interests of that child will remain paramount in all considerations.
16 years later, the survey revealed that 58% of children are engaged in street vending, domestic work (11%) and street begging (10%) in the federation states and Abuja.
However, the opinions revealed that street begging and domestic work are higher in the northern region than in the southern region.
This may or may not be true depending on the realities of this region. But the findings further revealed that some Nigerians blamed the prevalence of child labor on poverty (58 percent), parental neglect (16 percent) and the poor economy (10 percent).
Furthermore, the majority of respondents (27 percent) in the survey recommended that more jobs should be created as the unemployment rate in the country could be a contributing factor to the problem of child labor.
Additionally, 21 percent suggested that the government should improve the economy, 18 percent advocated free education, among other recommendations.
Therefore, it is important that the government and interested stakeholders work together to address the problem of child labor by implementing more programs to eradicate poverty and improve conditions for workers. The government must also create an enabling environment for small businesses to thrive in Nigeria to improve the economy and increase employment opportunities.