Kubwa residents task govt to end child labour

Residents of Kubwa, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on Sunday, called for the implementation of laws to end child labour in the area.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Chikakore, Kubwa, some of the residents called for appropriate measures to discourage the menace and punish perpetrators.

Mrs Rebecca Briggs, a business woman, said children of school age should not be allowed to hawk while their mates were in school.

“If you go around Chikakore, you find a lot of children hawking and selling different things, this is not good.

“The children are exposed to different dangers in the society especially the females, which can also affect them psychologically.

“Parents who send these children out for such things need to be punished because they are violating the child’s rights.

“The Federal Government needs to implement laws that would safeguard the rights of these young ones,” she said.

Mr Wale Fatoyibo, however, said the issue is not about implementing laws to punish child labour offenders, but about eradicating poverty in the society.

“Children who come from wealthy homes do not hawk on the streets; children hawk because they need to contribute to the needs of their families,” he said.

Also, Pastor Titus Agada, said education should be the first start in life for children rather than being used for labour.

According to him, children should never be put in a situation where they are the bread winners of the family.

Agada appealed to government to implement laws that would protect children against child labour as a way of ensuring a better future for them.

“When we have laws that protect these children, we can be guaranteed that the future of the country is secured.

“When there are such laws, people will be careful not to break them due to fear of being arrested or charged to court,” he said.

Speaking with one of the hawkers, 13-year-old Hannatu Gambo, who was selling groundnut cakes, she said she was hawking to get money to pay for her school fees.

NAN reports that children from the age of five to 15 in Chikakore, Kubwa, hawk different types of stuffs like walnut, groundnut, vegetables, pepper and cooked food. (NAN)