Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige has said that he was doing everything possible to effectively eradicate forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and secure prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour by the year 2025.

Ngige said the Government was commitment to accelerating action in achieving alliance 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] that seeks immediate and effective measures to eradicate

Speaking at the 2018 World Day against Child Labour 2018, the Minister said child Labour deprived children the opportunity of being educated, while being subjected to physical and emotional abuses that hamper the development.

He said the campaign against child Labour Is aimed at accelerating action to achieve target 8.7/alliance 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) which seeks among other things to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

He described child Labour as the engagement of children under 18 years of age in any work that deprives them of their childhood and the opportunity to be educated and also hamper their physical and moral development and this has assumed a global dimension and attention.

He said the 2018 theme which is “Generation Safe and Healthy” and sub-theme “Elimination of Child Labour and Protection of young workers” is meant to awaken the need to improve the safety and health of young workers and end child labour, especially in its worst forms.

According to him, to build a generation of safe and healthy workers, preparation must begin early with parental and community awareness for young people to be aware of risks and able to advocate on their own behalf, education about work hazards and risks as well as about workers’ rights, need to start in school and continues through vocational training and apprenticeship programmes.

He said practical steps must be taken to eliminate the root causes of child labour and ensure that the rights of young workers are protected within the ambits of the law. Noting that the Federal Government under President Buhari’s Administration has done a lot in the fight against child labour and will continue until it is eliminated in Nigeria.

The Minister solicited the collaboration of frontline MDAs, workers and employers union, civil society organizations, (NGOs) and other stakeholders to create time-bound child labour programmes and projects and make budgetary provision for them in line with their various mandates as encapsulated in the national action plan (NAP) for elimination of child labour and take such programmes to the communities and involve the community gatekeepers, market women, traditional rulers and children.

•Excerpted fromThe Nation report

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