Minister of Labour and Employment Senator Chris Ngige has said the federal government spent billions of Naira on social protection programmes in order to fight poverty and child labour in Nigeria.
Ngige said this in Abuja while briefing the media on the occasion of the 2022 World Day Against Child Labour, with the theme, “Universal Social Protection to end Child Labour.”
The minister who linked the scourge of child labour to poverty, assured that the federal government was vigorously implementing its numerous social protection programmes to better the lives of parents and the children.
He said: “Everything possible is being done to sustain the social protection programmes in spite of the dwindling revenue of the Federal Government.”
The minister further said poverty was fuelling child labour, especially in the developing countries, and expressed optimism that the scourge could be eliminated through establishment of social protection floors and programmes.
He said the ministry and other members of the National Steering Committee on the Elimination of Child Labour were using this year’s event to call for increased investment in social protection programmes and schemes to establish solid social protection floors and protect children from child labour.
He said: “Children engage in this are badly endangered. The Government of Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, in collaboration with the ILO and other stakeholders have been working assiduously and collaboratively to ensure the elimination of Child Labour in line with SDG 8.7 and that young workers of legal working age are protected and work in safe conditions.”
Ngige said the children were being fed with proteinous and nutritious food to make for good health and also keep them in school, while providing jobs for their parents as farmers, traders and cooks.
The minister said the government was also investing billions of Naira on the Universal Basic Education (UBE), which makes children to attend primary and junior secondary school free, in a bid to prevent them from engaging in child labour.