The Federal Government has disclosed that it spent about $100 million feeding 10 million students through the National School Feeding Program as part of efforts to end the issue of child labor in the nation.
The US Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Leornard, and representatives from the Department of State paid Dr. Chris Ngige a courtesy visit while in Abuja, and during the visit, Ngige revealed that the Nigerian government had implemented the school feeding program as part of its social security program to entice children who were involved in child labor back to school.
According to a statement from the ministry’s head of press and public relations, Olajide Oshundun, Ngige said that as of right now, the federal government had spent around $100 million to feed 10 million children nationwide.
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He claims that under the Child Rights Act and the Universal Basic Education Act, the government has expanded the number of schools in places where child labor is a problem and made all forms of education free nationwide.
He noted that the government established the Disability Peoples Commission to provide complete and comprehensive assistance to people with disabilities. He added that the goal was to promote inclusiveness of disabled people because they are the ones who most need support.
According to him, social protection programs were also implemented by the federal government to combat poverty, which is a major cause of the prevalence of child labor in Nigeria.
According to him, “we have introduced the national school feeding programme under our social security, to lure children back to school.”
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Leonard claimed that the US Government was concerned that children in Nigeria were being subjected to the worst types of child labor in quarries, granite mines, and other mining locations.
However, she reaffirmed that her nation would continue to collaborate with the Nigerian government to combat the epidemic and urged the seven remaining states that have not yet domesticated the Child Rights Act to do so right away.
The Envoy said, “the US government was pleased to see a new programme in Nigeria that provides seed capital to vulnerable people to pursue programmes in areas with a high prevalence of child labour.”
While praising the US government for recent technical assistance provided to West Africa by the Department of Labor, the minister noted that it was done in accordance with ILO Convention 190 to combat violence and harassment at work.
“Nigeria and Liberia are listed there and the fund is $5 million, estimated to be spent on the project. We think that it is a step in the right direction.
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“Just last week, we got information of another $4 million for anti-child labour activities in Nigeria, and Ondo State was chosen as the pilot state for the fight against child labour in the area of cocoa farming. We think this is a good step in the right direction,” the labour minister said.
The minister added that due of underemployment or unemployment, vulnerable families often send their young children to work in mines, cocoa plantations, on the streets, and in small-scale businesses.
“We had made it clear that the US Government has to take real steps for us to follow,” Ngige told the US envoy, referring to their 2017 travel to Washington for the African Growth and Opportunities(AGOA) conference organized by the Department of Labour and Trade.
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