Interrogating the effectiveness of un convention no: 138 on reduction of child labour practices in Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the effectiveness of UN’s Convention NO: 138 on reduction of child labour practices in Nigeria”. Among other things, the study sought to ascertain the extent to which Nigeria government has adhered to the tenets of the UN’s convention on child-labour; the effect of child-labour on the health of children involved in Nigeria; and the extent to which child-labour has hindered education of children involved in the study area. Exploitative Labour Theory propounded by Carol and Kenneth (2008) was used as the theoretical framework of the study. Secondary sources of data were used while content analytical technique was employed to contextually analyze the materials and data generated for the study. The paper observed that Nigeria has ratified the UN convention 138 on prevention of child labour but this convention has not been optimally effective in reducing child labour practices in Nigeria due to weak implementation framework. High prevalence of child labour in Nigeria has drastically hindered health and education of the children involved. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that government at all levels in Nigeria should intensify efforts at social security programmes as a way of reducing poverty which is one of the major factors that promote child labour practices in the country. Free and compulsory education should be introduced especially at the primary level to reduce the number of out of school children in the study area. There should be effective supervision and monitoring of the programmes designed to eliminate child labour practices, and this should extend to ensuring that funds from donor agencies are judiciously utilized.l