Child Labour As Modern Day Slavery
as they mostly advise me to go to my madam and explain myself. Perhaps when I grow up, I can have my own ‘ amala’ restaurant and have girls and women sell for me too. However, I know that won’t happen if my uncle keeps collecting my monthly salary. So, I am going to eventually leave this current place of work to find the same work elsewhere on my own where I would be paid my money directly. This way, I can save and start something on my own when I have enough to do so.”
For 16- year- old Faith ( surname withheld), who hails from Benue State, her mother’s sister actually works as a house help agent and her mother had advised her to attempt working as a house help in Lagos through her aunt’s agency.
“My mother said that because the agent is my aunt I would have better opportunities than outsiders to work in a rich family house and make more money. However, when she brought me to Lagos, she took me to a house where I only worked for six months and had to leave the place because the family maltreated me. Even though my mum and aunt decided that I get N10, 000 per month as I requested, while my aunt pays the balance of N20, 000 on a monthly basis into my mother’s account, I was constantly harassed by members of the family I worked for, and due to my kind of personality, I literally fought with the madam who did not hesitate to beat me up and throw my things out on a fateful night. I had to call my aunt who came to pick me up so late. After that, she got me into another family but unfortunately I didn’t like that family because they only lived in a room and parlour apartment and they were literally struggling to make ends meet. However, the madam had two children and needed someone to take care of them while she worked. It wasn’t what I signed up for; I wanted to live in a luxury house. However, I made friends in this second place and decided to stay put since the madam was paying the same N30, 000 as the previous one. She even seemed more desperate to keep me as she needed someone to help take care of her children. So, she gives me extra money on a daily basis; she also bought me a phone but started restricting me from making friends. Eventually, we had a misunderstanding and she also asked me to leave. After that, I returned to Benue, started learning how to make hair and about six months later, a guy came to ask for my hand in marriage and I got married to him.”
Explaining why she opted for marriage, Faith said her parents couldn’t afford to pay for her education. “Although I never liked the idea of being anyone’s house help especially as I have zero tolerance for being tossed about even as a young girl, a lot of my friends in Benue were out to work as house helps and we kept hearing stories of them doing well. However, when I got into the same deal, I realised the stories of their doing well were just made believe and a ploy by the agents, who also hail from Benue State, to get more girls into the house girl job. At that point I decided to just get married since that was the only window to move forward.”
On her part, 15- year- old Joy Ogbu, who also hails from Benue State, said: “After my father left my mother to marry another woman, my mum, who weaves simple hairstyles for a living in our village, could not take care of all six of us. So, my uncle advised her to send me and my 13- year- old younger sister to work as house girls in Lagos. My uncle took me and my sister from the village and brought us to Lagos. We have never worked before; neither had we ever visited Lagos until about three months ago. Although the woman I work with is nice to me, I wish I hadn’t left because I want to go to school. I stopped schooling after my father left us but my mother promised that after working for one year, I can return home to go to school. So, I am optimistic. However, my 13- year- old younger sister seems to be having a hard time where she is working in Ikorodu; she keeps begging my mum to allow her return to Benue but she refused, saying both of us should work for a year and see what happens with the bulk money she gets from us after one year.”
Asked why underage girls are usually employed as house helps, a Lagos based house help agent, who pr eferred anonymity , said: “More often than not, I and some other agents in the same line of business insist on ladies from 18 years and above. However, most of the people ( women) who reach out to us to get them house help request for y ounger girls, who according to them, can be controlled. Some even say they want y ounger girls between ages 13- 15 that would not seduce their husbands. A lot of these people ha ve one or two ridiculous reasons for wanting children as house helps instead of young adults. Also, the family of the girls who we pick up from different places to work also prefers to give us their young teenagers who they expect to work for the family from age 13 and then return home to get married when they are 18 years old. That way, they would ha ve made five years of income from them to take care of the family and raise the younger ones who also take over when they become young teenagers.
“This is our line of business; we are solving problems for families as both husbands and wives have to work and need someone to not only clean the house, do laundry, run errands but also cook and take care of their children. However, the issue of age is beyond us as both parties prefer to give and ha ve y oung teenagers. More importantly, it’s not like we ever compel them to stay put in a place where they are badly treated. Before we take them to where they would work, we interview the people who want them and also do some orientation for the girls. We tell them to behave well and always remember that they are only with the people to work and should not over step their boundaries. However, if they sense danger at any point they should not hesitate to exit the place and return to us. While we have encountered a number of unfortunate incidents, we try our best to follow up on the girls from time to time and ensure that they are doing well. This is because should anything actually happen to them, we would be held responsible both by their parents and eventually the government. So, we ensure that all of these girls are properly documented and also refuse any client who we perceive to be dangerous or hostile – although sometimes you can’t tell these things just by mere facial expression and countenance.”
On where the girls that her agency deploys hail from, the agent replied: “They are mostly from Benue State and Saki Oke- Ogun in Oyo State. However, in recent times, we also have more people from Ebonyi and Plateau states. It is rare to find girls from other places. Initially, we used to have more girls from Calabar in Cross River State but that suddenly stopped years back.”
When asked if she is aware that taking underage girls to work is forced labour and an infringement of their fundamental rights, which is punishable under the Child Rights Act, the agent said: “I think it becomes an infringement of their rights if I go to their houses and pick them up without their parents or guardians’ consent. I don’t even go to them; their parents and guardians come to us to help employ their wards. So, perhaps if anyone is to be charged with any offence, it would be the parents and guardians, who give their children out to work.”
Would you allow your biological children to work as house helps? The agent took a deep breath, then responded: “I would never give
I think it becomes an infringement of their rights if I go to their houses and pick them up without their parents or guardians’ consent. I don’t even go to them; their parents and guardians come to us to help employ their wards. So, perhaps if anyone is to be charged with any offence, it would be the parents and guardians, who give their children out to work
my children out to do house help work. They are the reason I am working. The money I make from this job is what I use to provide for their education and needs.”
Speaking on how much she charges per person, she revealed that she pays parents or the house helps depending on the agreement, adding that she takes her own quota from the payment made by clients.
“I charge according to the job description by the clients and I pay the parents or girls 70 per cent while I take 30 per cent,” she revealed.
When told that some house helps allege that the process of paying them is not transparent, the agent explained: “Most times the transactions and agreement are done between us and their parents, so these girls are not aware as their parents keep the payment plan away from them and insist that we do the same. However, when they eventually find out from the people they are working for, who aren’t supposed to disclose that to them as agreed during the contract, they begin to feel cheated. When that happens, we reach out to their family members and have them sort things with them.”