Employing children to do tedious and extremely difficult jobs that robs them of their childhood, right to education, and affects them mentally, physically, socially and morally is not only dangerous but also harmful.
Although not all work done by children should be classified as child labour, activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays. These kinds of activities contribute to children's development and to the welfare of their families; they provide them with skills and experience, and help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their adult life.
All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict, offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances, are all forms of CHILD LABOUR.
In Nigeria, and indeed Africa, poverty is the greatest single cause behind child labour. For impoverished households, income from a child's work is usually crucial for his or her own survival or for that of the household. Lack of meaningful alternatives, such as affordable schools and quality education, is another major factor. Even when schools are sometimes available, they are too far away, difficult to reach, unaffordable or the quality of education is poor. In many cultures the education of girls is less valued or girls are simply not expected to need formal schooling, and these girls pushed into child labour such as providing domestic services. Child labour is more common among children of illiterates.
Solving this issue has to be done collectively. The government alone can not tackle child labour.
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