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Address Poverty, Abolish Child Labour, NLC Tasks FG

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has appealed to the Federal Government to address the issue of inequality and poverty in the country in order to abolish child labour.
NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, made the appeal in an interview with newsmen, yesterday, in Abuja.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has declared June 12 of every year World Day against Child Labour Day.
The ILO has also estimated worldwide that 218 million children between 5 and 17 years are in employment, while 152 million are victims of child labour and 73 million, work in hazardous child labour.
The ILO also estimated that in absolute terms, almost half of child labours (72.1 million) were to be found in Africa.
According to Wabba, we have about 218 million of these children working under very precarious condition.
They ought to be in school and not actually working.
“Therefore, there are two conventions that actually try to address these issues of which Nigeria is trying to domesticate the conventions.
“One of them is convention 138, which deals with the minimum age for anybody to be employed to work, that is 18 and above and therefore from five to 17 years old anybody that is between that age group is hacking on child labour.
“We also have convention 182, which deals with the worse form of child labour where we have children working in very dangerous working environment.
“We have most of these occurrences in sub-Sahara Africa and some part of Asia where there is issue if inequality and poverty,” he said.
The NLC president said it was necessary for the government, worker groups, among others, to collaborate in ensuring that these children were not out in the streets working in precarious situation.
He said that the government must ensure that the youths are developed and engaged in order to become responsibly citizens of the country.
Wabba added that the issue of child labour is something that we have given a lot of attention and it is something that the ILO is very passionate about.
“That is why these two conventions is very important and strategic because we cannot address the issue of inequality without quality education to the youths which is a very important instrument.
“Therefore, we have to use a lot of platform to actually do policy engagement, and if you remember, we have the child right act, though not too many states have domesticated the act.
“If the act is domesticated, it will go a long way, that is if all the states are able to domestic it. We must also make the domestication a central policy in our development,’’ Wabba said.
He, however, called on government at all levels to embrace free education from primary to tertiary level and other benefits such as scholarships and bursary as it would encourage the children of the poor to continue to access education.
He also noted that the best way to address the issue of inequality and poverty was to give the children of the poor quality education.
“Because by the time they are educated, they would find their level in the society but if we denied them education and make them to work under precarious conditions then their situation becomes worse in the society.
“Like in the Nigeria context, children are seen hawking not because that is what they want to do but because there is extreme poverty and these children are used to augment the family income,’’ he said.
He also called on the government to address the issue of social justice, inequality, social security as this was the only way to ensure abolition of Child Labour in the country.
Wabba said that labour would do a lot of advocacy and policy engagement to ensure that the abolition of child labour was achieved.
He also noted that part of the labour law being reviewed by the National Assembly was also to address the age bracket that ILO has raised in its Committee of Expert report since 2012, saying that Nigeria should review its laws.
According to him, the review would also crimainalise all employers that employed children between the ages five and 17 except possible farming.
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I’m Committed To Community Dev – Ajinwo
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RSG Tasks Rural Dwellers On RAAMP …As Sensitization Team Visits Akulga, Degema, Three Others

Rivers State Head of Service, Dr (Mrs) Inyingi Brown, has called on rural communities in the State to embrace the Rural Access and Agricultural marketing project (RAAMP) with a view to improving their living conditions.
This follows the ongoing sensitization campaign by the State Project Implementation Unit (SPIU) visits to Degema, Abonnema, Afam headquarters of Degema, Akuku Toru and Oyigbo Etche and Omuma local government areas respectively.
Dr Brown who was represented by the Deputy Director, Special Duties in her office, Mrs Dein Akpanah, said RAAMP was initiated by the Federal Government and World Bank to economically empower rural dwellers.s
She said the World Bank understands the plights of rural farmers and traders in the State, and therefore came up with the programme to address them.
According to her, RAAMP will improve the conditions of farmers, traders and fishermen, and therefore, behoves on every rural communities in the State to embrace the programme.
The Head of Service also said the programme would support the youths to be gainfully employed while bridges and roads will be built to link farms and fishing settlements.
Also speaking, the State project coordinator, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the programme has the potential of creating millionaires among farmers and fishermen in the State.
Kpakol who was represented by Engr. Sam Tombari, said RAAMP would help farmers and fishermen to preserve their produce.
According to him, the project will build cold rooms and Silos for preservation of crops and fishes while access roads will also be created to link farmers and fishermen to the market.
He, however, warned them against any act that will lead to the suspension of the projects by the World Bank.
Kpakol particularly warned against acts such as kidnapping, marching ground, gender based violence and child labour, adding that such acts if they occur may lead to the cancellation of the project by the World Bank.
During the visit to Oyigbo local government area, Mr Joshua Kpakol, said the team was there to let them know how they will benefit from the Raamp.
The coordinator who was personally at Oyigbo said the World Bank introduced the project to check food insecurity in the State.
He said already 19 states in Nigeria are already benefitting from the project and called on them to embrace the project.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in the three local government areas have commended the World Bank for including their areas in the project.
They, however, complained over the incessant attacks by pirates on their waterways.
At Degema, King Agolia of Ke kingdom said land was a major problem in the kingdom.
King Agolia represented by High Chief Alpheus Damiebi said many indigenes of the kingdom are willing to go into farming but are handicapped by lack of land.
Also at Degema, the representative of the Omu Onyam Ekeim of Usokun Degema kingdom, Osoabo Isaac, said Degema has embraced the programme but needed more information on the implementation of the programme.
Similarly, while High Chief Precious Abadi advised that the project should not be narrowed to only crop farming, a community women leader, Mrs Orikinge Eremabo Otto, called for the construction of cold rooms in all fishing settlements in the area.
At Abonnema, Mr Diamond Kio linked the problem of the area to incessant piracy along waterways.
He also expressed fears over the possibility of the project being hijacked by politicians.
Also at Abonnema, a stakeholder, Ikiriko Kelvin, called on the World Bank to design an agricultural project that will suit the riverine environment, while at Oyigbo, HRH Eze Boniface Akawo expressed satisfaction with the project.
John Bibor
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Senate Replaces Natasha As Committee Chairman

The political mudslinging between the Senate leadership and Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan continued yesterday as the Senate named Senator Aniekan Bassey as the new Chairman of the Committee on Diaspora and Non-Governmental Organisations.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, announced the appointment during yesterday’s plenary, confirming Bassey’s replacement of Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who is currently on suspension.
Akpoti-Uduaghan was reassigned to the Diaspora and NGOs Committee in February after she was removed as Chair of the Senate Committee on Local Content during a minor reshuffle.
Bassey is the senator representing Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District.
Although no reason was given for her removal yesterday, the change is believed to be connected to her unresolved suspension.
In May, Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court ordered her reinstatement and directed her to tender an apology to the Senate.
However, the Senate has insisted it has not received a certified true copy of the court judgment.
Akpoti-Uduaghan who represents Kogi Central, has yet to resume her legislative duties despite a recent court ruling that voided her suspension.
In a televised interview on Tuesday, Akpoti-Uduaghan said she was awaiting the Certified True Copy of the judgment before officially returning to plenary, citing legal advice and respect for institutional process.
Although the Federal High Court described her suspension as “excessive and unconstitutional”, a legal opinion dated July 5 and attributed to the Senate’s counsel, Paul Daudu (SAN), argued that the ruling lacked any binding directive to enforce her reinstatement.
Akpoti-Uduaghan, one of only three female senators in the current assembly, said the continued delay in allowing her return was not only a denial of her mandate but also a blow to democratic representation.
“By keeping me out of the chambers, the Senate is not just silencing Kogi Central, it’s denying Nigerian women and children representation. We are only three female senators now, down from eight,” she said.
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