Incidence of poverty and child labour practices in Nigeria

With the end of oil boom and the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in the mid-eighties, many families in Nigeria have resorted to various measures to earn their daily bread. The border of catering for large families and also to make ends meet made the addition of meagre supplementary income as supplied by the young attractive to many parents. The engagements of children to work at an early age, made many of them lose their health, denied an education and never experience the joys of childhood.

This paper examines the incidence of poverty and problems of child labour practices in Nigeria. It identifies hawking, begging, industrial works, domestic services, commercial sex trade and farming as categories of labours for which children are engaged. The paper offers policy measures towards reducing the phenomenon of child labour practices in Nigeria.