The International World Day Against Child Labour (June 12) is a day globally reserved to highlight the plight of children used as labourers and to streamline measures the society must take in putting an end to this menace. The day also marks a call to action on the rights of the child.

Recent statistic show that 152 million children are still in child labour 20 years after the adoption of the child labour day The Malala fund Community led Collective Action for Girl Education (C-CAGE) project in Adamawa state focusing on Numan, Maiha and Song local government areas seeks to improve the enrolment and completion rate of girls in secondary schools has come face to face with the challenge of child labourers as a lot of the girls have been unable to go back to school. Child labour hinders good education and has a negative impact on the economic growth of any nation by preventing the positive benefits associated with human capital development from being fully realized. Many children are exposed to long hours of work in unsafe and unhealthy environments, which leads to the burden of too much responsibility for their age. Working under these hazardous conditions with little food, low income, no education, and no medical care leads to a series of violations of the rights of the child. In general, working children have no time, no money, and no zeal to go back to school.

A release by the Malala Fund, Gulmakai's champion for C-CAGE, Ms Frances Uchenna Igwilo, said the call could not have come at a better time than now that Nigeria has just concluded the inauguration of its president and National Assembly members. The returning Federal government should put as its top priority the education and welfare of its children, for a greater development is on the verge of constituting a new Federal Executive which will pilot the affairs of the country for the next four years.

As recalled the current led Federal governments funding of the education sector was only seven per cent in 2017 as against the stipulated 15 to 20 per cent proposed by the UNESCO and coupled with a steady decline in the teaching profession where over 40 per cent of Nigerian teachers are not qualified as they do not possess the prescribed minimum qualifications for teaching, there is the urgent need for a revamp of the education sector within the country.

She enjoined the Buhari led government to respect and strictly adhere to the target of up to 20 per cent of its annual budget for this critical sector whilst making substantial investments in training quality teachers at all levels of the educational system adding that Nigeria must respect its commitment to the goal four of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals aimed at transforming the world by 2030 which, specifically targets achieving a quality education for all children and also the African charter on the rights and welfare of the child and also fulfill its APC next level roadmap for education.

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