Keeping War Against Child Labour Alive

A 12 year old boy Sunday Umeh, lost his parents in auto-crash on their way back from a traditional festival at their hometown in Imo State when he had just completed his primary education. After the burial of his late parents, one of his aunties had offered to take him on and cater for continuation of his schooling. But that promise had not materialized and three years after that his auntie seems not to talk about it any more.

The boy now frustrated and unhappy about his situation feels sad and pity for himself. He now assists his auntie to sell cow meat at the Creek Road Market where he spends most part of the day with one or two meals a day.

This situation is not peculiar to Umeh as a nine year old Nkechi has a bitter tale of woe to tell.

Nkechi was taken from her parents from their village to live with a relation who promised to take care of her education and upbringing in Port Harcourt. Having come from a poor background, the parents of the girl thought that they have been relieved from the burden of giving their daughter the needed sound background and education that would better the life of their child, but that dream seems shattered as little Nkechi had been reduced to a househelp performing all the menial jobs at home and hawking of pure water.

A Port Harcourt legal practitioner, Mr. Ray Ukpa, describes this one aspect of child labour which comes in various forms. “Child labour in its worse form is all about a child being used hazardously for labour in areas such as agriculture, mining, quarry, prostitution and the like”.

Mr. Ukpa noted that it is disheartening to see young boys and girls being used in any of these areas against social norms and beyond their capacity because it dehumanises humanity in general and makes the child loose self-esteem and his future. As hawkers, the children are often exposed to risks on our roads. The girls are debased through rape and invariably exposed to various forms of assault and sexually transmitted diseases including the deadly HIV virus due to no choice of theirs, but the fact that they have been made vulnerable.

“Sometime ago, the Media Women Group and some non Governmental agencies accorded prominence to issues relating to child labour. What of course they did is to raise awareness of child labour in its worse forms in the media by ensuring reportage of child related issues, and other things that affect them.

A cleric, Rev Godwin Eyo said the issue of child labour and trafficking should be accorded same importance with politics, sports and the economy because if we do not develop the child we are not developing our future. He is of the view that these were people who would in future manage the economy and determine our destiny as a nation and regretted that child labour has intensified and assumed a frightening dimension due to poverty and lack of care by parents, living some of the children conscripted into cultism and engaging in heinous crimes that are rife in society.

“What really led children to this problem also include greed and perverted value of our system, and leadership qualities”, he says.

In corroborating the views of the clergyman, Mr. Sotonye Alfred, a civil servant posits that some parents have also not been able to inculcate in their children the right values due to the pursuits of material gains and the need to meet domestic and family obligations as regards providing basic requirements of life like food which pose serious challenge as a result of the economic quagmire confronting many families; stating that many parents leave home early and return late at night from business and work place after their children have gone to bed without caring and knowing what their children have been doing in their absence.

According to him, the upbringing of children before now, had been the responsibility of everyone including neighbours, but it is no longer so these days because of disrespect and arrogance of most children who are ready to abuse and even assault an elder who tries to correct their wrongdoing.

He condemned child abuse in all its form and pointed out that the onus is on the parents and guardians to do what is right by giving their children the best in life to make them responsible citizens, and one of such ways is the importation of good education and inculcating the fear of God in them.

In his opinion, Mr. Tony Nwaiwu, a sociologist, expressed dissatisfaction with some parents who use children to perform hazardous jobs without considering the danger inherent in such practice, adding that such exercise expose children to various forms of abuse and danger even though some of them justify their action by saying that they went through the same challenges in life to be where they are today. “This has been the major obstacle to the elimination of child labour in the country”.

“It is however gladdening to know that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has floated and intervention programme on the elimination of child labour and also partnering with other organisations of like minds like the USAID, International Organisation of Migrants (IOM) and the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation on the matter”.

“Of course, not only these organisations should be involved in this, the media too has a prominent role to play in this campaign since the various organisations operate within the society.

Mr. Nwaiwu also posits that the community and the people at the grassroots have to be used in the arrangement because they reside in the community and the community leaders know them, noting that there is also need to use advocacy and moral suasion to bring about a change of attitude. For example, working with teachers, religious leaders, traditional leaders and those who matter in the community to ensure success of the dream.

He called for media fora to bring people together to discuss child related issues and child trafficking in all its ramification.

“There is also need to be in touch with security agencies because they too have a role to play. Just like the police and the immigration, they are all stakeholders in the fight against child labour”.

According to Nwaiwu, parents who fail to send their children to school tend to forget that education is a potent tool against child labour and poverty.

Patterson Koko