CHILD LABOUR AND EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: IMPLICATION FOR NATIONAL POVERTY ALLEVIATION

Mrs. Adaobi .L. Aroh

Lecturer,

Nwafor Orizu College of Education, Nsugbe.

Anambra State-Nigeria.

Email: arohadaobi@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Various official reports have established that child activity options have a link to household poverty. Specifically, research acknowledges a two-way link between child labour and household poverty. Some researchers argue that the increasing participation of children in economic activities is a result of illiteracy and poverty, among other social and economic problems. Others view such participation as an important strategy by poor households to rise above the poverty line. In Nigeria, reports have identified an increasing incidence of child labour, but comprehensive national analyses of the descriptive and causal factors of the child welfare variables – schooling and work – have not been possible until now. Poverty is an enemy of man, it humiliates and dehumanizes its victim. Child labour is often a complex issue sustained by employers, vested interest, class distinction and poverty which has denied the child the opportunities to have basic education. This paper in a clear analysis observes that child labour results in the inability of the child to develop skills and knowledge required to obtain sustainable employment to alleviate poverty in the families. The paper highlights the implication of child labour for education of the child in Nigeria and advocates that child labour should be brought under control by government, individuals, corporate bodies and all concerned in order to provide the child with proper education, Improve his well-being and create a brighter future devoid of abject poverty for the Nigerian society. A proper control of Child labour in Nigeria will bring about sustainable growth and development.

INTRODUCTION

The incidence of child labour is a widespread and growing phenomenon in developing countries, including Nigeria (Basu and Van, 1998). Genicot (1998) estimated the number of children engaged in the labour force as 250 million in developing countries. Labour force participation rates for children aged 5–14 years vary greatly from country to country, ranging from close to zero in most developed countries to an average of 20% in Latin America and 40% in Africa (Jayaraj and Subramanian, 1997; UNICEF, 2002).

          The hazards associated with the involvement of children in the labour market are enough to hypothesize that child labour use persists in inverse relation to the degree of economic advancement of a society (Partrinos and Psacharopoulos, 1995). Yet, research conducted by Basu (1998) revealed that children contributed as much as one third of household income. The researchers concluded that children’s income in poor families cannot be treated as insignificant in their poverty alleviation efforts. It has also been reported in some studies that such income helps the poor families to improve their welfare, thereby enabling them to send their children to school (Patrinos and Psacharopoulos, 1997).

          The determinants of child activity options extend well beyond education to include the child’s characteristics, parent’s characteristics, household’s characteristics and community characteristics. Knowledge of these determinants would inform a better child welfare management policy in Nigeria, but such analysis is lacking at the national level. In addition, within the empirical literature on child labour there has been a shift from mere quantification to econometric analysis of its determinants. This has coincided with a widespread realization that simply banning child labour is unlikely to eradicate the problem or may even make a household worse off.

          The particular policy and research interest in this work is to ascertain the determinants of child labour, more especially in traditional African society where there is ineffective machinery to enforce child rights. In this context therefore, the paper seeks an in-depth knowledge of the incidence and determinants of child labour in Nigeria using data from the Child Labour Survey of 2001. This will offer policy makers and other agencies interested in child welfare and poverty reduction a good foundation for formulating appropriate policy.

The African child is entitled to ranges of rights covering right to peaceful assembly, thought, religion, protected private life, safety, guarding the child against hazardous work, child’s right to education, health, social, mental, spiritual and moral development, to mention a few, as in African Charter and the UN Child Right Convention. Contrarily, the abuse of Child’s right has become a social problem all over the world (Adebayo, 2010).

However, Child labour has become a crisis all over the world for children. Evidences abound from many developing countries in Asia, South America and Africa and even developed countries such as America and in Europe (Awake 1999).  Children as young as five years of age are forced into labour where they work under appalling conditions that ravage their young bodies and minds. These children are often made to work in domestic service, industrial and farm labour, street hawking, bonded labours or worse still commercial sex work Most of these children have no education, no homes to feel secure in and no parental love. In Africa, many children are used as soldiers and guerrilla armies in the unending political crises in the continent.

Critically, the extent of child labour is difficult to measure and it is recognized as a major social problem all over the world. In Nigeria, the situation appears even more frightening when we consider news about the Italy/Nigeria syndicate that ship children abroad for prostitution or slave labour. Many children are seen in the streets hawking items when they should be in school, while others are dehumanized by their masters or mistresses whom they serve as domestic servants. This is the situation in Nigeria.

CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION.

Child Labour

Child labour is about children who work long hours for low wages, often under conditions harmful to their health and often explorative. The Encyclopaedia Britannica defines child labour as “employment of children of less than a specified labour age’ Quoting the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Rosen (1999) indicated that fifteen (15) years is the stipulated minimum age for allowing children to work, provided the child has completed a compulsory schooling. This yardstick is widely used when establishing the number of children engaged in child labour.

Work can be an essential part of a child’s education and a means of transmitting vital skills. Children can be involved in workshops and small scale services, gradually becoming full fledged workers in life UNICEF (1997) maintains that such work, “is beneficial, promoting or enhancing a child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development without interfering with schooling, recreation and rest.”

Children are however engaged in child labour when they are compelled to work under unfavourable conditions which may influence their future negatively.  Child labour employers do so often because children can be paid less, they seldom question authority and therefore less likely to organize resistance against oppression and may not strike back when abused. From the Wikipedia free Encyclopaedia, other forms of child abuse and child labour include migration, early marriage, child headed household etc.

There are many reasons why children are driven into hazardous and debilitating labour. Some of the reasons include the following: poverty, lack of adequate educational facilities and societal class discrimination.

Poverty

For most poor families in Nigeria, the small contribution of a child’s income or assistance at home can make the difference between hunger and survival. So children are given away to work as servants, hawkers, bus conductors, etc. to earn additional income to assist the home and pay their school fees (Awake, 1999).

Problem of Adequate Educational Facilities

The education system in Nigeria has gone down so much especially at the primary school level. Classrooms, seats, black boards, text books are virtually non-existent and where they exist, they are inadequate. (Ezema, 2001; Oranu 1990). Children in such schools lose interest in education and may end up being engaged in child labour.

Societal Class Discrimination

Societal class discrimination is another contributory factor to child labour. The Nigerian society does not provide equal opportunities for all classes of her citizens. In fact little efforts are being made to close the gap between the rich and the poor in a society where choice jobs are provided on the basis of whom you are and whom you know. This situation enables only the elites of the society to grab the highly lucrative and paying jobs whereas the less-paying jobs are left for the disadvantaged and the poor. This ensures that families under the latter group are perpetually confined to eternal struggle for survival and are pushed to put their children through child labour to help sustain the family. (Amadi, 1998; Olawale & Solola 1999).

FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR

Holistically, most child workers are engaged as domestic servants, bounded labourers, industrial/farm labourers, hawkers and commercial sex worker.

Domestic Servants

This is the most common form of child labour in Nigeria where children are employed to give domestic service. Domestic service need not be hazardous but most often they are. At ages ranging from seven or less than fifteen, domestic servants are made to wake up at 5a.m every morning, keep the house clean, wash cloths, prepare food for the household, do school runs, etc. and retire late to bed. They are sometimes paid poorly or not paid at all and most of the time deprived of affection, schooling, play, social activities. They are also vulnerable to physical and sexual abuses. (Awake 1999).

Bonded Labourers

This is another big contributory factor to child labour in Nigeria. Some very poor parents pledge the services of their young children to farmers or factory owners in exchange for loans. Where the parents can not repay their debts, the children remain in long servitude. (Awake 1999).

Industrial and Farm Labourers

Many children are employed as labourers in construction and farm operations because of the little money they would be ready to accept. Most of the time, they are exposed to snake bites, insect bites and suffer asthma or bronchitis after being exposed to cement and pesticides. Some others have been mutilated while cutting with machetes in the farms. (Madunagu, 1999).

Hawkers/Scavengers

Hawking and scavenging for scraps is another factor. Many children in Nigeria are engaged in street hawking and scavenging for plastics, bottles, tins, etc. While hawking and scavenging, these children are exposed to molestation and abuses by total strangers. They could even be stowed away as slaves and lose contact with their families. They also stand the risk of being used for ritual purposes. (Madunagu, 1999).

Commercial Sex Workers

Most recently many parents have been known to arrange for their children to be taken away to prostitute for money even at very tender ages. These children are subjected to innumerable physical and emotional abuses, not to mention HIV infection, which makes it one of the most hazardous forms of child labour. The wife of the then Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Mrs. Titi Abubakar then  engaged in a war against women trafficking and child labour through her foundation known as Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF). This does not bring this practice to a total stop.

CHILD LABOUR AS A BARRIER TO EDUCATION

Education provides the situation that makes children to learn. Children learn through experiences brought about by instructions. Education provides the child with certain skills, knowledge and abilities/competencies that may be required later in life. Good education provides the child with a world of opportunities for self-improvement and greater participation in the wider society. According to Garrison (1965), “the ability of young people to embrace the opportunities for employment will depend to a large extent upon the type of education and training they receive. In Nigeria, education can hold the key towards successful livelihood while lack of it can spell doom for the individual. The impact of child labour on the overall education of the child cannot be over-emphasized. In fact all forms of child labour pose barrier to the education of the child and are highlighted below.

1.                  Children who are engaged as domestic servants for instance and are subjected to working late into the nights and waking up early in the morning have the tendency to sleep while class activities are going on in school because of physical exhaustion/fatigue. This does not in any way promote learning in the child.

2.                  Similarly, children who hawk before going to school are bound to arrive school late an are sure to miss the lessons, thus depriving the child of the opportunities to learn.  Moreso, they do not have time for their home work.

3.                  Most other child labourers are not even allowed to go to school at all. Lack of education becomes a clog in the wheel of their progress in life.

4                    Other children engaged in hazardous labour face various forms of deformity, ill health and psychological torture resulting from harrowing experiences and infections. These constitute impediment to learning which is vital for the development and improvement of the child.

IMPLICATIONS FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION

From all that have been discussed so far, child labour does not provide the child with educational opportunities for self-development. It is rather a route towards abject poverty because it deprives the child, the opportunities for acquisition of skills and abilities that could help the child develop the self. Children are rather exposed to serious hazards stemming from the nature of work or poor working conditions. This is because children are not physically suited to long hours of strenuous works, are not usually aware of dangers at work or do not have much knowledge of the precautions to be taken to avoid injuries. The effects of child labour on the psychological, emotional and Intellectual growth of the victims are also grave and the learning abilities of children working long hours can be impaired (Rosen, 1999). This means that most child labourers could be condemned to life long poverty, sickness, illiteracy and social disfunction.

The present civilian administration in Nigeria of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo designed the Universal Basic Education (U.B.E.) as a way of granting basic education to the Nigerian child and alleviating or better still eradicating poverty from the Nigerian families.

This effort not withstanding, a lot still need to be done in the following areas to address this ugly situation.

1.         Compulsory education is necessary. It is true that the Federal Government has designed the UBE as a programme for poverty alleviation or eradication But a step should be taken further to include compulsory and free education of the child as one of fundamental human rights In Nigeria. This compulsory and free education should be up to school certificate level and should be followed by adequate law enforcement to ensure that every child in Nigeria benefits from this right.

2.         Facilities for education ought to be improved. Most primary schools in Nigeria lack the basic facilities for leaning – buildings, chairs, desks, text books, black boards, etc. The teachers in Nigeria are equally not well motivated to teach, making learning less interesting in our school. The government needs to make the school environment conducive to, earning by providing necessary facilities and motivating teachers enough to retain the interest of the child to learn. This will help keep the child in school and protect him from child labour.

3.         There is need to improve on the Nigerian economy. Poverty has been identified as the major reason for engaging child labourers in an attempt to get them assist in improving family earning. The economic situation iii Nigeria does not help the matter. Purposeful leadership which Is able to manage our resources, attract foreign investment, improve employment and earning and also ensure fair distribution of goods and services at affordable prices is needed at this time. Improved economy will generate improved living condition and reduce poverty in the Nigerian families.

4.         There is need to create awareness on child labour conditions. The government should define specific child labour conditions and generate awareness. Most employers who engage under aged children sometimes do not know that they are involved in child labour. In most cases, these employers are of the wrong notion that certain persons must be engaged in these debilitating jobs and conditions without knowing the legal implications of child labour.

In Nigeria, only persons of sixteen (16) years of age and above are to be engaged in public service. In line with this, there should be a law that specifically protects the child from child labour abuses.

CONCLUSION

No one would publicly argue that exploiting children under bonded labour, as scavengers, street hawkers or worse still sexual workers when they should be in school is acceptable under any circumstance. Hazardous and exploitative work is simply intolerable for all children. Child labour which denies a child the opportunity to get basic education and exposes him/her to physical, emotional and sexual abuses is not acceptable to any civilized society. Child labour is one form of contemporary slavery which violates article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that;

no one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave

 travel shall be prohibited in all their forms.

Child labour should be condemned by all and all hands should be joined to give our children good education, love, security and the normal life they need to lead humanity through the 21st century and beyond.

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