19.03.2008 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Due to poor crop yields and increasing food prices families in rural areas forced to send their children in the search for food into big cities to beg ("Desperate children swamp northern cities as food price hikes bite") [ID 22662]

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

In most sectors the minimum work age is 15 years; nonetheless child labour remained a problem ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 20067]

"In most sectors the minimum work age is 15 years, which is consistent with the age for completing educational requirements; however, child labor remained a problem. The law prohibits employment of children less than 15 years of age in commerce and industry and restricts other child labor to home-based agricultural or domestic work. The law states that children may not be employed in agricultural or domestic work for more than eight hours per day. Apprenticeship of youths at the age of 13 is allowed under specific conditions."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

High numbers of children are working as beggars or in the agricultural sector ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23774]

"High numbers of children worked as beggars, street peddlers, bus conductors, and domestic servants in urban areas. Children were also involved in the agricultural sector. Little data was available to analyze the incidence of child labor. The National Modular Child Labour Survey Nigeria, which conducted the only survey available between 2000 and 2001, reported approximately 15 million children working in the country. Of these, more than six million were not attending school and more than two million were working 15 or more hours per day."

Document(s): Open document

11.03.2008 - Source: US Department of State

400 inspectors controlled conditions of work in all sectors; no complaints about child labour were received ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2007") [ID 23775]

"The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity dealt specifically with child labor problems and had an inspections department whose major responsibilities included enforcement of legal provisions relating to conditions of work and protection of workers. Although the inspectorate employed nearly 400 total inspectors for all business sectors, there were fewer than 50 factory inspectors for the entire country. The agency reportedly received no complaints of child labor. The ministry conducted inspections mostly in the formal business sector, in which the incidence of child labor was not a significant problem. NAPTIP bears some responsibility for enforcing child labor laws, though it primarily rehabilitates trafficking victims and child labor victims."

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Awareness of the problem of child labour increased ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 20068]

"[...] Awareness of the problem increased throughout civil society, and the government demonstrated its commitment to the issue of child labor throughout the year. The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity drafted a National Policy on Child Labor as well as a National Plan of Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Nigeria. By year's end both drafts had been submitted to the Federal Executive Council for approval."

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

During the year 120 labour inspection officers were trained on cild labour laws, 80 were trained to perform inspections in high-risk sectors ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 20069]

"The government's child labor policy focused on intervention, advocacy and sensitization, legislation, the withdrawal of children from improper labor situations, and rehabilitation and education for children following their withdrawal. The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity was responsible for enforcement of the law. During the year the ministry trained approximately 120 labor inspection officers on child labor laws. Eighty officers were trained to perform inspections in high-risk sectors such as agriculture, mining, and the informal sector. Approximately 20 officers were trained to perform rapid assessment surveys in these critical sectors; reports of the surveys conducted by these officers were not yet available at year's end. The ministry also sponsored awareness-raising and law-familiarization training programs for local law enforcement, customs, and other government officials. Despite these advances, forced child labor and trafficking in children continued during the year (see section 5)."

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

The National Modular Child Labour Survey Nigeria reported approximately 15 million children working in the country between 2000 and 2001 ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 20071]

"Economic hardship resulted in high numbers of children working to enhance meager family income. Children frequently were employed as beggars, street peddlers, bus conductors, and domestic servants in urban areas. Little data was available to analyze the incidence of child labor. The National Modular Child Labour Survey Nigeria, which conducted the only survey available between 2000 and 2001, reported approximately 15 million children working in the country. Of these, more than six million were not attending school and more than two million were working 15 or more hours per day."

Document(s): Open document

06.03.2007 - Source: US Department of State

Nearly 400 inspectors of the Ministry of Employment conducted inspections mostly in the formal sector in order to deal with the problem of child labour ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2006") [ID 20074]

"The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity dealt specifically with child labor problems, and had an inspections department whose major responsibilities included enforcement of legal provisions relating to conditions of work and protection of workers. Although the inspectorate employed nearly 400 total inspectors for all business sectors, there were fewer than 50 factory inspectors for the entire country. The ministry conducted inspections mostly in the formal business sector, in which the incidence of child labor was not a significant problem. NAPTIP bears some responsibility for enforcing child labor laws, though it primarily rehabilitates trafficking victims and child labor victims. The agency reportedly received no complaints of child labor, although it did pursue cases of trafficking in children (see section 5). The ministry repatriated 350 trafficked child laborers to their countries of origin during the year."

Document(s): Open document

08.03.2006 - Source: US Department of State

Child labor remains a problem; minimum work age is 15 ("Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2005") [#46036],  [ID 17451]

"n most sectors, the minimum work age is 15 years, which is consistent with the age for completing educational requirements; however, child labor remained a problem. The law prohibits employment of children less than 15 years of age in commerce and industry and restricts other child labor to home-based agricultural or domestic work. The law states that children may not be employed in agricultural or domestic work for more than eight hours per day. Apprenticeship of youths at the age of 13 is allowed under specific conditions. Awareness was increasing throughout civil society, and the government showed its commitment to the issue of child labor. Despite these advances, forced child labor and trafficking in children continued during the year (see section 5). Economic hardship resulted in high numbers of children working to enhance meager family income. Children frequently were employed as beggars, street peddlers, bus conductors, and domestic servants in urban areas. Little data was available to analyze the incidence of child labor. The National Modular Child Labour Survey Nigeria conducted the only survey available between 2000 and 2001. The survey reported approximately 15 million children working in the country. Of these, more than six million were not attending school and more than two million were working 15 or more hours per day. The Ministry of Employment, Labor, and Productivity dealt specifically with child labor problems, and had an inspections department whose major responsibilities included enforcement of legal provisions relating to conditions of work and protection of workers. There were fewer than 50 factory inspectors for the entire country, although the inspectorate employed nearly 400 total inspectors for all business sectors. The ministry conducted inspections mostly in the formal business sector, in which the incidence of child labor was not a significant problem. NAPTIP bears some responsibility for enforcing child labor laws. The agency reportedly received no complaints of child labor, although it did pursue cases of trafficking in children (see section 5). Private and government initiatives to stem the incidence of child employment continued but were ineffective. The government implemented the ILO/IPEC West Africa Cocoa Agriculture Project in the cocoa and other agricultural sub-sectors to combat hazardous child labor and to prevent child trafficking for labor exploitation. Several programs by NGOs and international organizations worked to address child labor in the country. UNICEF conducted a program to remove young girls from the street peddling trade and relocate them to informal educational settings. ILO programs worked to involve communities and schools in withdrawing children from exploitative situations such as street peddling and prostitution. The programs aimed to reintegrate the children into school or otherwise provide vocational training."

Document(s): Open document

26.12.2003 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

More than 15 million Nigerian children under the age of 14 are working, mostly to help pay for the cost of going to school ("15 million children work, mainly to pay for school") [#18344],  [ID 15204]

Document(s): Open document