Some experts on Wednesday identified poverty, unemployment and family problems as some of the factors responsible for the high incidence of child labour in the country.
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A Sociologist, Dr Franca Attoh, described child labour as the employment of children below 18 years in activities that prevented them from having basic education and proper development.
Attoh, who is a lecturer at the University of Lagos, Akoka, said that harsh economic realities forced some parents to send their children to work outside the home.
She said that many people considered child labour as part of the training required by a child before performing adult roles and a vocation.
According to her, such impression should be eliminated as child labour deprives children of their dignity.
“According to the International Labour Organisation, it is estimated that about 25 per cent of Nigeria’s 80 million children under the age of 14 are involved in child labour.
“These children are made to babysit, hawk and beg on the streets or even made to engage in some heavy domestic chores meant for adults.
“These activities affect the growth and development of such children,“ she said.
Also, a General Physician, Dr Nkechi Asogwa, said that child labour was harmful to a child`s physical and mental development.
She said that most of the children exposed to child labour worked in dangerous or unhealthy conditions that could result in them falling ill, being injured or losing their lives.
According to her, some injuries or ill health may result in permanent disability.
“Also, some health problems may not develop or show up until the child is an adult.
“For example, child hawkers in Nigeria are vulnerable to sexual molestation and children who are sexually abused suffer long-term physical, psychological, and social traumas.
“Sexually abused children develop new fears, such as fears of sleeping alone, dark places, strangers, or particular adults.
“They also experience changes in usual behavioural patterns such as loss of appetite, bed-wetting, increased irritability, sleep disturbances and so on.
“Many of these children work under exploitative conditions that have harmful effects on their physical condition and mental health.
“Long working hours are often responsible for fatigue that can cause accidents and impair intellectual development,“ she said.
Mrs Hope Okoye, Executive Director, Integrated Anti-Human Trafficking and Community Development Initiative (INTACOM Africa), also spoke on the issue.
Okoye said that there was need to address the socioeconomic conditions under which children were reared in order to control the incidence of child labour.
According to her, one way to reduce child labour is to appeal to the conscience of the people and raise their awareness on the evil inherent in the practice.
“Public awareness on child labour and its danger is very important because when people are aware, they are likely to take action to prevent it.
“This can been done through workshops, seminars, conferences, state by state campaign tours, media advocacy, and musical concerts.
“Government can also sponsor a weekly television programme to depict the negative effect of child labour and all the inherent risks and dangers associated with it,`
