Crime

Child Labour: ILO Trains Journalists on Communication Development

By Web News 602

By Olufisoye Adenitan

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) through its Action Against Child Labour in Agriculture in West Africa, (ACLAWA), has trained selected media practitioners in Ondo State on Communication for Development on the Elimination of Child Labour.


The three days training was held in Akure, between Thursday 13th June and Saturday 15th June, 2024 and participants were drawn from different media organizations in the state.

Speaking, The Director of, the ILO Country Office For Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, And Liaison Office for ECOWAS, Vanessa Phala, represented the Program Manager of the ILO, ACLAWA Project, Dr. Kolawole Agatha, charged media professionals to be committed to investigating and reporting on child labor issues within the state and beyond. 

The Director said the workshop was aimed at building the capacity of media practitioners to support the advocacy in the fight against child labor. 

Dr Agatha explained that media plays a pivotal role in combating child labor by raising awareness and mobilizing public opinion against this disturbing issue and trend in society.

She urged them to continue to educate the public and policymakers about the burdens child laborers face and the danger to their mental health saying media coverage can pressure governments and corporations to implement and enforce stricter laws and policies to protect children from exploitation.

Dr Agatha said the media should amplify the voices of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), activists, and survivors of child labor, ensuring that their messages reach a broad audience, by highlighting successful interventions and stories of rescued children.  

Also speaking on the investigation and writing of human interest stories in the quest to eliminate child labor, The National information officer of the United Nations Information Centre, UNIC, Dr. Oluseyi Soremekun highlighted the skills and components of Investigative reporting to include credible sources, Data gathering, Undercover and protection of identities of underaged children as well as follow up to the stories.

Dr Soremekun encouraged journalists in the state to change the narrative on child labor reporting to build more conversation that will spur the government to intensify efforts towards eliminating child labor.

In an address, the Controller, Federal Ministry Of Labour And Employment in Ondo State, Mrs Olanike Mogboruko, emphasized that Child Labor was a scourge that affects millions of children worldwide, robbing them of their childhood, dignity and potential urging media practitioners to help  in shaping public opinion, influencing policies and amplifying the voices of marginalized communities.

She assured that the ministry would collaborate with relevant agencies to improved advocacy on child labour in Ondo state 

Addressing the participants,the Ondo NUJ chairman, Leke Adegbite who appreciated the efforts of the ILO through the ACLAWA project towards eradication of child labour in the country said the mass media have the capacity to help the key stakeholders in eliminating child labour in Ondo state.

Adegbite also urged media practitioners to give top priority to investigating and reporting child labor-related cases through their various platforms

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News

Teachers Are Life Builders- Educationist

By Web News 930

Today is world Teacher’s Day which commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO recommendation concerning the status of teachers.

It is also an occasion to resolve issues regarding the teaching profession and to recognize the rights and the responsibilities of teachers.

In an interview, the Principal of Oba Akinbiyi High School 2, Mokola, Ibadan, Mrs Oluwatoyin Ayodele explained that teachers played an important role in the development of students, who are the backbone of the society.

Mrs Ayodele noted that the days were gone when teachers were looked down upon as being poor.

She said teaching profession is a prestigious one thus teachers should be proud of themselves.

She, however, advised teachers to live up to the role of being life builders.

World Teacher’s Day was first celebrated in 1994.

Morenike Tony-Esan

News Analysis

Protecting Children from Labour amidst Covid-19 Pandemic

By Web News 1091

Children around the world are routinely engaged in paid and unpaid forms of work that may be harmful to them.

However, child labour is when children under the legal age of adulthood work or are involved in hazardous activities that may compromise their physical, mental, social or educational development.

According to World Bank records, Africa ranks highest among regions in the percentage of children involved in child labour.  

Child labour is not about children performing small tasks around the house, but the exploitation of the most vulnerable, disadvantaged and marginalized children in society.

According to the recent estimates of the International Labour Organization, ILO, there are approximately seventy-two million child labourers between the ages of five to seventeen in Africa.

Children are withdrawn from school and put to work in order to fight the economic downturn.

Also revealed from past research studies conducted in Nigeria is the fact that, whenever most families have some shocks female children are used in replacement of their mother’s work in domestic duties instead of going to school.

Large proportion of female Nigerian children are used as domestic servants by trafficking them into some neighbouring countries, some hawk for their parents or their masters without directly been paid.

Parents who have the financial ability to forgo the income from their children in most parts of Nigeria still do not choose to send those children to school.

The Covid-19 health pandemic and the resulting economic and labour market shocks are having a huge impact on people’s lives and livelihoods.

Unfortunately, children are often the first to suffer with the crisis pushing millions of vulnerable children into child labour.

Government should therefore intensify their efforts at educating parents on the need for a small family size.

This year, the World Day against Child Labour will be conducted as a virtual campaign and is being organized jointly with the global march against child labour and the international partnership for cooperation on child labour in agriculture.

As Covid-19 pandemic ravages the world, parents and guardians should protect their children and wards from labour and keep them at home.

Children should be properly engaged during this pandemic to protect them from contracting the dreaded disease.

Parents should be discouraged from giving their children for exchange or as servants in times of difficulty.

This the government can do by giving parents that wish to send their children to school but without the mean access to credit facilities to help them cater for their family.

Morenike Tony-Esan