Distinguished Audience, You are welcome to this Press Conference which is the official flag off of a 17 month the Action Programme for the withdrawal and prevention of child labour in Ogun State being implemented by the Women’s Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON) in partnership with the ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC). WOCON in also seizing the opportunity to commemorate the World day for the Prevention of Child abuse today November 19.
PRESS CONFERENCE TO FLAG OFF ACTION PROGRAMME FOR THE WITHDRAWAL AND PREVENTION OF CHILD LABOUR IN OGUN STATE AND THE COMMEMORATION OF THE WORLD DAY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CHILD ABUSE ORGANISED BY WOMEN’S CONSORTIUM OF NIGERIA (WOCON) IN PARTNERSHIP WIT
Distinguished Audience, You are welcome to this Press Conference which is the official flag off of a 17 month the Action Programme for the withdrawal and prevention of child labour in Ogun State being implemented by the Women’s Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON) in partnership with the ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC). WOCON in also seizing the opportunity to commemorate the World day for the Prevention of Child abuse today November 19. For the benefit of those who are not very familiar with our work, let me start by saying that WOCON is a non-religious, non-partisan and non-profit organization to the promotion and enforcement of women and children’s rights and the attainment of equality, development and peace. WOCON also holds a United Nations Special Consultative Status. The issue of child labour is paramount to the focus of WOCON and it is in that light that we want to draw public attention and consciousness to the plight of children in labour. A large percentage of children in Nigeria are engaged in child labour some of them in hazardous labour which the ILO has categorized as the worst forms of labour. Following a joint study conducted by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Joint Programme for HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), it was found that “ 39 percent of children aged between five and 14 years in Nigeria are engaged in child labour.” Ogun State is not exempted from the scourge of child labour and the attendant dangers to the growth and development of the State as many children below the age of 18 are engaged in various forms of labour. Some of the identified forms of hazardous labour in Ogun State include Street hawking, domestic slavery, head loading, begging, motor park conductors, and apprentice in mechanic and carpentry workshops, child trafficking and more recently artisanal mining. Only recently NAPTIP acknowledged the rescue of 384 children in illegal mining around Abeokuta in Ogun State. These are children who had been trafficked from Benin Republic to Ogun State who till the grounds with their bare hands to get stones which are broken to make granites used in construction. More disheartening WOCON staff also discovered a couple of weeks ago children engaged in the local and illegal drilling of sand along the river banks. There is no doubt that child labour is intertwined with the rising level of poverty in the country which has forced many parents and family members to resort to the subjection of their children or wards to labour to make ends meet. Most of the children in labour are denied education and standard living and health care. If the situation of child labour is allowed to continue unabated WOCON is concerned that the children who are the bedrock of the society will not be provided with the necessary tools for meaningful and sustainable development of not only the children but that of the future leaders of tomorrow. In order to curb the stem of under-development of children WOCON in partnership with the ILO/IPEC is embarking on a 17 month Action programme for the systematic withdrawal and prevention of at least 190 children at high rate of child labour. Children below 14 will be withdrawn from labour and placed in schools while those within the legal working age will be placed in vocational skill acquisition centers according to their needs. In addition alternative income generating ventures will be provided for at least 150 families/adult members of the identified children including victims of child trafficking identified by NAPTIP. The Action program also includes public awareness and sensitization of the communities to understand that child labor recycles poverty, the importance of education and the rights of the child. At the end of the programme we hope to achieve a child labour free Ogun State. The World Day, initiated by the Women’s World Summit Foundation (WWSF) in 2000, aims to create a culture of prevention around the world by encouraging governments and community/society organizations to play more active roles in protecting children. Every year on November 19 Non Governmental Organisations all over the world organise activities to bring the issue of child abuse in its various forms to public focus so that together initiatives will be taken for the protection of children. WOCON in previous activities had focus on the issue of child trafficking for exploitative labour such domestic slavery and prostitution as well as commercial exploitation of children in Nigeria, Unfortunately, our country Nigeria and Ogun State in particular, are strategic locations for traffickers to engage in the sourcing , transit, receipt and export of human beings especially women and children . According to a UNICEF survey more than 15 million children engaged in child labor in Nigeria and a sizeable percentage of them are trafficked children, We must however commend some of the efforts that Nigeria and Ogun State in particular has put in place to create a legal framework for the protection of children through the promulgation of the child Rights Act in 2003. Ogun State out of the 24 States that have promulgated their respective Child Rights Law is one of the earliest State within the 3 years of the Child Rights Act to pass the Child Rights Law of Ogun State. There is no gainsaying that it is of utmost importance that our Governments have to be responsive to the needs of the children and should consequently as a matter of priority o implement the Child Rights Act and Laws to the letter to provide the necessary protection for children in Nigeria and Ogun State especially. We appreciate that the task is not only on the shoulders of Governments but all of us responsible citizens. WOCON being aware of the important role the media has played and can still play in combating child labour has deemed it necessary to invite you here today to inform you of the project as well as to solicit your support in ensuring that the project achieves its objectives. We owe a lot to the media and we count on their active support. We have also invited you all as representatives of key stakeholders in the community without whom we cannot succeed in our efforts to eliminate the scourge of child labour before it destroys the fabrics of our society. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals will be an unrealistic dream if we do not put an end to Child labour and provide the needed protection to our children. This is a clarion call to all to join hands as Child Labour Recycles poverty. So Let us put a stop to it. Thank you for your attention. Bisi Olateru-Olagbegi Executive Director, Women’s Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON)