The Federal Government has decried the continued refusal by some communities in Niger State to enrol their children in school.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Nkiruka Onyejeocha, expressed disapproval at an event to commemorate the 2024 World Day Against Child Labour in Minna.
Speaking through the ministry’s Controller in Niger State, Mrs. Hauwa Zakariya, the minister noted that some gatemen have already been engaged to sensitise community leaders, parents and locals to the importance of education, promising that her ministry would leave no stone unturned to enrol deprived children in school, adding that the older ones would be equipped with skills.
The programme was organised by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the government of the Netherlands, organised labour as well as the private sector.
She emphasised the need for stakeholders to join hands in the fight against child labour prevalent in rural communities.
The minister said: “We expect to see that all children are given the right to education, right to live, and right to recreation.”
In their separate remarks, the representative of the Federal Ministry of Mines and Solid Minerals Development, Halima Ibrahim, and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) Chairman in Niger State, Ibrahim Gana, stated that child labour is a cankerworm that must be fought to its logical end.
“We see children hawking in the streets, we see children in mining pits, we also see children begging in the streets, and all are child abuse that must be fought with all seriousness,” they noted.
