Nigeria's Child Labor Problem

In a country where 60% of the population is under the poverty line, child labor is not viewed as cruelty, it is a fact of life and for some families it is the only way to survive. Children in Nigeria are not legally allowed to work until the age of 15 but the government does not always have the ability to make sure that the law is enforced. These children work in factories, shops, on farms and in the homes of wealthy citizens. Many of these children work 12 hour shifts under poor working conditions and often the tasks they perform involve dangerous tools, machinery or chemicals. UNICEF and the Bureau of International Labor Affairs are trying to put an end to child labor in Nigeria. An example of particularly dangerous field that has been targeted as a problem and is improving considerably is cocoa production. Child labor is tied to another predominant human rights issue, human trafficking, which is a major problem in Nigeria.

Unfortunately many children depend on the money they earn to support themselves and their families so preventing them from working could be even more detrimental to these children. Improved and more fair working conditions are a first step to improve this situation. The idea of offering families money to send their children to school would be a positive step in the direction of ending child labor. If these children can attend school and move up in the world there is a better chance that they will not be forced to send their offspring to work as children and the seemingly never-ending cycle would stop.