Over 24 million out of the 62.9 million children between five to 17 years in Nigeria as of 2022, were engaged in child labour, while 617,503 people were said to be in forced labour with no opportunity to exit their employment. The statistics were contained in the 2022 Child Labour and Forced Labour Survey Report unveiled yesterday in Abuja by the federal government. The survey was carried out by the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) through the financial support of the United States Department of Labour (USDOL) and Netherlands Government. The report showed that 24, 673, 485 (39.2 per cent) of children between 5 -17 years in Nigeria were engaged in child labour while 14, 390,353 (22.9 percent) of children are involved in hazardous work. The survey further showed that 31,756,302 (50.5 per cent) of the children between 5 – 17 years in Nigeria were engaged in economic activity. The report further indicated that the prevalence of forced labour was more in urban areas than rural areas. While presenting the survey report, Mrs. Abiola Orosanya said that in terms of the percentage of children in child labour and hazardous work, the South-East region has the highest prevalence of children involved in child labour (49.9 per cent), followed by North-East geopolitical zone with 49.4 per cent.

THISDAY