By Kenneth Atisele
The United Nations has said that an estimated 168 million children, between the ages of five and 14, around the world, including Nigeria, work as child labourers and in conditions considered dangerous to their health.
According to the UN, even more saddening is the fact that more than half of the 168m are engaged in full-time work.
In a statement to mark the ‘2015 World Day Against Child Labour,’ the global body calls on the international community to invest in quality education as a key step in the fight against child employment.
The UN International Labour Organisation states that child labour keeps young children out of school and ensures that their hopes for a more prosperous future remain unrealised.
The ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder, said: ‘As things stand, the aspirations of many parents for their children and of children themselves for a decent education will remain unfulfilled dreams.
‘Many girls and boys have no chance to attend school. Some try to combine school and work, but all too often must drop out of school well before reaching the legal age of employment and become child labourers.
‘As a region, Asia and the Pacific still have the largest total numbers at 78 million but Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region with the highest incidence of child labour with some 59 million, or over 21 per cent of the child population, engaged in work which, more often than not, entails long hours in agricultural and services industries,’ Ryder said.
