Alert raised by Public policy think tank group Nextier and the national overseer of the International Labour Organization (ILO) that no less than 15 million Nigerian children are participated in child labour in Nigeria is very terrifying. It is one more sign of destitution that is embedded in the land and should be tended to in light of a legitimate concern for the nation's future. Child labour in Nigeria takes different structures and happens in various areas, including agribusiness, homegrown work, street hawking, and casual enterprises.

A large number of Nigerian children, who are denied of their experience growing up and human dignity indulged in work that is intellectually, physically, socially, or ethically hurtful to them and even undermines their tutoring.

Far reaching use and abuse of child labour in Nigeria, as per most records, is on the ascent, because of constant destitution in the nation. Nigerian children are exposed to commercial sexual abuse, child hawking, and other risky exercises, for example, making children journey far to fetch firewood or water.

Mature children in the range of five and 14 years, void of basic education, wander the streets, fighting for survival. Unfortunate Nigerian parents are bamboozled into believing that their children will be fended for and given fair legitimate business, just for the children to be initiated into appalling child labour and taken advantage of through long stretches of low-paying jobs and exposure to perilous conditions. Children are likewise enlisted to accomplish weighty jobs on farmlands and in plants.

One of the most incredibly upsetting parts of child labour is the developing interest for children for sexual purposes. As indicated by the US Bureau of International Labor Affairs, Nigeria keeps on being a source and destination for sex trafficking of children. Aside from Italy, Nigerian young whores have swarmed Spain, Germany, Belgium, Austria, the Unified Kingdom, and different nations. They comprise the biggest gathering of whores in Norway, with about 500 underage Nigerian whores working in the Netherlands. The majority of these whores are enlisted through the human trafficking industry. Most of the victims of this trafficking are clueless young girls who are enticed with commitments of steady employments abroad, just to be forced into prostitution abroad.

Aside from destitution, other causative elements of child labour in Nigeria incorporate absence of access to quality education, social practices, and an absence of requirement of child labour regulations. Families confronted with monetary difficulty frequently depend on child labour for the basic necessities of life. Metropolitan destitution and hardship have constrained large number of Nigerian children onto the streets. Frequently, these young children are seen selling their products in the streets, and simultaneously, some are physically manhandled, while others are exposed to the most dangerous and antagonistic conditions. The awfulness of child labour in Nigeria is that a huge extent of Nigerian children who are denied essential schooling are constrained into untimely adulthood by being made to perform work meant for grown-ups. An excessive number of Nigerian families rely on the pay, acquired by their children.

Likewise troubling is the act of killing unborn and newborn babies where children resulting from supposed unwanted pregnancies or infants conceived illegitimately are callously disposed. As an outcome, female infanticide has made its way in Nigeria. Thusly, child labour represents an embedded challenge that warrants consideration and viable policy intervention in Nigeria. Substantial activities are expected to abhor child labour in the nation to give renewed hope to children, including returning them to school.

Government at all levels can seek after successful approaches to battle this bad habit, cooperating with pertinent NGOs, Chapels, Mosques, civil, private and voluntary organizations. These endeavors ought to incorporate awareness campaigns, the arrangement of educational and vocational training opportunities, and promotion for stricter enforcement of child labour regulations. Child laborers ought to be urged to go to school and master new skills, above all, not surrender hope for a superior future. Given areas of strength for the conviction that children ought to be seen and not heard, parents and guardians ought to be enlightened about child labour and children’s legal rights.

Nigeria has different regulations and guidelines shielding Nigerian children from child labour. Be that as it may, these regulations and guidelines are scarcely complied to. The Nigerian Labour Act, the Child Rights Act, and the National Policy on Child Labour are among the legal instruments pointed toward resolving the vexed issue. In any case, the requirement and execution of these regulations remain uphill tasks. For example, the Child’s Right Act has banned Child Labour, however many states of the federation are yet to embrace the Child’s Right Act, frequently on cultural and religious grounds. The central government ought to arrive at a consensus with the objecting states on the lawful system that will shield children from child labour. Government ought to guarantee that labour examiners get adequate monetary, specialized, and human resources to implement child labour regulations.

There is need additionally for mass edification to make grown-ups to comprehend that children have rights that ought to be safeguarded. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989, signed and endorsed by Nigeria, remains the benchmark for assessing the rights of Nigerian children. The CRC states that each child, when born, ought to have the right to life, the right to essential schooling, the right not to be constrained into participating in any unlawful sexual activity, the right not to be kidnapped and sold into subjugation, freedom of expression, the right not to be used for forced labor, child trafficking, etc. In this manner, the different child protection components ought to be reinforced, including child protection services, for example, hotlines and counseling services for children out of luck.

The government ought to make proficient systems for reporting and investigating child labour cases.

As opposed to exposing children to every kind of child labour, they ought to be given the chance to advance intellectually, physically, ethically, spiritually, and socially in a healthy climate, while getting a charge out of states of opportunity and respect. This is the main way the nation can expect to sustain the future leaders of tomorrow.