Winifred Bosa

In the 2015  reviewed reports of Child Labour developments in 142 countries , Nigeria has been found to have made significant progress in curtailing the scourge of Child Labour and Human Trafficking.

The Representative of the United States Department of Labour (USDOL) , Marlin Hardinger presented the report recently to the Honourable Minster of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige according to press release from the Federal Ministry .

“Significant update on the report covering 142 countries listed Nigeria as combating child labour and most of the efforts have to do with the good work Nigeria has made on legislations that work against child labour. This report has been applauded by policy makers all over the world,” Hardinger said.

However ,   the Minister  commended the favorable findings but disagreed on the accuracy of some of its conclusions.

The Minister emphatically rejected the aspect of the report that blacklisted Nigeria as engaging in child soldiering, attributing the incident to the desperate activities of the Boko Haram insurgents who are terrorists and which cannot in any way be linked to the government of Nigeria.

Reacting further to other sectors such as agriculture, gold mining, construction as well as social malaise of begging and scavenging where the reports gave a thumb-down to Nigeria, the Minister restated that the involvement of children in these low occupation apart from arising partly from cultural practices is majorly the consequence of poverty and poor education which African countries are grappling with.

He further explained that the issue of artisanal gold mining by children was a cultural practice based on village groups which involved youths and women groupings.

He therefore reiterated the resolution of the African nations at the recent Africa Growth and Opportunity Act Forum in Washington D.C for the United States’ direct funding of education and infrastructural development, especially skill acquisition in African rural communities as a sure way to tackling child labour and trafficking.

The Minister earlier assured the international community that every other aspect of the report where Nigeria is genuinely lagging behind would be swiftly tackled by President Muhammadu Buhari since the causes of such child labour practices were not inseparable from corruption which the administration is determined to stamp out.