>
A child expert, Mr Marcus Williams, has decried the rise in child labour in Nigeria, particularly Oyo State, urging government and stakeholders to intervene before it get out of hand.
Williams, who is the Secretary of the Oyo State Steering Committee on the Elimination of Child Labour, spoke during the commemoration of the World Day Against Child Labour in the state, held at the Conference Room of the Federal Secretariat, Ikolaba, Ibadan.
He maintained that social protection programme is the only way to curb child labour in Nigeria,stressing that child labour such as sexual exploitation, hawking and begging for arms should be checkmated before it get out of hand.
Williams noted that this year’s World Day Against Child Labour, themed, ‘Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour’ was held to create more awareness and put an end to child labour in the state and Nigeria at large.
He,however, said that the programme was not just to create awareness, but to also raise vanguards among students against child labour.
One of the participants at the programme, Mrs Tayo Adebayo said the initiative would assist students to stay in their respective schools.
“My organisation started a school feeding programme last year and till date, we feed 50 children daily and also paid for after school lessons. The children have been consistent in school since then and have never missed lesson nor school. I am glad this programme is coming to Oyo State and please note it requires lots of monitoring,” She said.
Earlier in his speech, the state controller, Federal Ministry of Labour, Festus Igbinosun, maintained that the International Labour Organisation, (ILO) has been taking necessary steps in ensuring that child labour is fully eradicated by year 2025, adding that the only aspect on child labour affecting Oyo Atate is street hawking.
The programme is a symposium for students from various schools within the state to showcase their knowledge about child labour and to also urge those guilty of the offence to desist from the act.
The schools also took part in competitions where they all spoke on the dangers of child labour in form of debate, short playlets, miming, in order to pass a clear message across to perpetrators of the act.
Schools in attendance include Royal College; Emmanuel College; Abadina College; University of Ibadan; Queens School, Apata; Methodist Grammer School, Bodija; St. Patricks Grammar School, Basorun; Oba Akinbiyi Model College School 2; Ikolaba High School; Government College Ibadan among others.