The United States Department of Labour has commended Nigeria for the progress in reducing the scourge of child labour and human trafficking.A statement on Tuesday said the commendation was contained in its 2015 Child Labour Report, which the representative of the Department of Labour, Marlin Hardinger, presented to the Minster of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige, in Abuja.
According to him, the reports reviewed child labour developments in 142 countries and found “moderate advancement” in Nigeria’s efforts to tackle child labour.“Significant update on the report covering 142 countries listed Nigeria as combating child labour and most of the efforts have to do with the good work Nigeria has made on legislations that work against child labour. This report has been applauded by policy makers all over the world,” Hardinger said.
Responding to the remarks, Ngige commended the findings on Nigeria but disagreed with some of its conclusions.The minister rejected the aspect in the report that blacklisted Nigeria as engaging in child soldiering, attributing the incident to the desperate activities of the Boko Haram insurgents which he said could not in any way be linked to the government of Nigeria.Reacting further to other sectors such as agriculture, gold mining, construction as well as social malaise of begging and scavenging where the reports discredited Nigeria, Ngige said that the involvement of children in these occupations arose partly from cultural practices and was the consequence of poverty and poor education which African countries were grappling with.He explained that the issue of artisanal gold mining by children was a cultural practice based on village groups, which involved youths and women groupings