The world, recently, marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The focus of the event was ending the menace of girl-child labour but the ill treatment of the girl-child still persists in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), despite several agitations against it. In many rural communities, girls are seen hawking, assisting the parents on the farm or engaging in menial jobs. While in some cases, they are regarded as s second class, only getting necessary attention after her male counterpart.
The Nigerian office of the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) says child labour is any work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children and deprives them of opportunities for schooling and development.
UNICEF while quoting from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimated the number of children working under the age of 14 at 15 million.
“The high level of diverse and tedious jobs that children execute in dangerous circumstances is particularly worrying.
These jobs include being street vendors, beggars, car washers or watchers and shoe shiners. Others work as apprentice mechanics, hairdressers and bus conductors while a large number work as domestic servants and farm hands.”
While focusing on the girl-child, it said girls start working at an earlier age than boys, particularly in the rural areas.
“They also suffer the triple burden of housework, school work and work out of home whether paid or unpaid. One of the most common practices is the use of children as child domestics – especially girls.”
Its prevalence might be rooted in the customs and traditions in which a girl-child is believed to be made for the kitchen and other house chores. As such, denying the girl-child accessibility to education and other benefits.
The menial jobs they are engaged into, in most cases, are without financial remunerations or benefits, making them to withstand the worst of several social vices including rape and molestation.
The practices are common in the rural communities due to poverty and illiteracy as Aso Chronicle observed, though there are handful of such cases in the cities.
A report said: “Many communities, particularly rural areas, where between 60-70% of child labour is prevalent, do not possess adequate school facilities. Even when schools are sometimes available, they are too far away, difficult to reach, unaffordable or the quality of education is so poor that parents wonder if going to school is really worth it.”
Malam Abdullahi Suleiman, a member of Kubwa Muslim community opines that many factors cause girl-child labour, such as economic gain, because the children provide labour without obtaining any benefit from the employers.
Johnson Aminu, a student, said girl-child labour is the biggest challenge in Africa because children that are supposed to be in school hawk around the streets. In bringing up a child, education and moral teaching are the priorities because children are leaders and mothers of tomorrow.
“A girl-child should be given equal opportunities like their male counterpart because women deserve more care than men,” he said.
Emmanuel Ola Osegbe, a businessman, advocates that a girl-child should go to school and not hawk because when you educate or train a girl-child, it is assumed that you have trained the nation.
Another resident, Engr. S.O.R. Shitta –Bey, identified poverty as the major factor that leads to child labour. He said most parents are forced to give out their children as house cleaners or hawkers due to poverty.
Girl-child labour is very bad but the government is to blame because it has not provided anything like job for the poor, to cater for their children. Thus, it’s inevitable that poor parents give their children out for early marriage, house help, and hawking.
Hussaina Zakare is a 6-year-old girl seen in Ibwa, in Gwagwalada Area Council, playing under a tree among some other children when they were supposed to be in school. Sule Sagbo, her guardian, said he could only afford sending one child, out of the ten he has got, to school and he chose a male child for that.
“The females are of school age but they are not in school due to lack of fund but I would enroll them if I have enough,” Sagbo said.
“I feel bad that I could not join my mates in school,” Hussaina said. Sagbo added that she plays all the day while waiting to be joined by her other friends when they returned from schools.
In Kiyi, a community in Kuje Area Council, some girls were seen hawking, while many sat by the roadside with their wares.
Oyubo Jennifer Etito, a resident, said the practice of girl-child labour is cruel because the child is deprived of so many opportunities. Similarly, some community heads have lent their voices to the campaign against girl-child.
The head of Tunga Sarki in Kwali Area Council, Alhaji Aliyu Musa, said he ensures residents are treated fairly and evenly. The retired judge said both males and females in the community are accorded same respects.
A network of young professionals in Abuja, Team Jonathan Global Initiative (TJGI), during the international girl-child day, had called for an end to the inequality.
