As the World marks the day against child labour today, the chairperson of the Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, Lagos state chapter Comrade Adeola Ekine calls on government both at the state and federal levels to make and implement more stringent laws to curb child labour in Nigeria.
Comrade Ekine in an interview to mark Year 2021 “World Day Against Child Labour” said the eradication of Child Labour Starts with Mothers. “If mothers stops employing under age children as domestic staff, this will go a long way in putting a final stop to the issue of Child Labour in the country.
While she noted that some families engage under age children as house helps, maids and workers under the guise that such children will be sent to school and or paid, “A child is a child no matter what, and they should not be deprived of their childhood”.
She added the “Every Child deserves education, right to health care, family life and recreation, adequate standard of living and the right to be protected from all forms of abuse and harm”.
Ekine emphasized the need for female journalists to spread the awearness of the hazards of Child Labour and discourage people from employing under age children as helps in homes and shops.
“Child Labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that deprives these children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful to a child. It interferes with their schooling, preventing them from attending or concentrating, it may involve them in being enslaved, separated from their families, and exposed to serious hazards and illnesses”.
She reiterated that the year 2021 theme, “Act Now, end Child Labour” is aimed at spreading awareness about the illegal practice of child labour that still prevails in our society with the objective of eradicating it completely across the globe.
There is no reason or excuse, child labour is child abuse.
