ILO TRAINS 30 ANTI-CHILD LABOUR OFFICIALS, SET UP MONITORING COMMITTEE IN NIGER STATE

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) ACCEL Africa, on Thursday, trained and set up a Community Child Labour Monitoring Committee (CCLMC) to help monitor and eliminate child labour in Niger state of Nigeria

The four-day training which ended today, was organised for traditional leaders, women and youth leaders, head teachers and school teachers from Kpmapma, Kuchiko, Kukalo and Nakurpe in Shiroro and Suleja Local Government Areas of the state.

The ILO has the mandate to advance social and economic justice, through setting International labour standards, while ACCEL Africa Oversees Action for the elimination of child labour supply chains in Africa.

Miss Lydia Eke, National Project Officer, ACCEL Africa, ILO, noted that the training was designed for the CCLCM communities, where children were engaged in artisanal small scale gold mining.

“The participants were selected from communities where prevalent mining activities are being carried out and involving children in mining activities,” she said.

Eke noted that the participants would serve on the monitoring committee to help track child labour activities within their communities.

One of the Facilitators, Hajiya Amina Shaba, Desk Officer for Gender and Child Labour, Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel, said that the training of CCLMC would assist in carrying out ACCEL projects for communities.

She stated that the training would also ensure community ownership and sustainability of the projects in their communities, when they end in 2022.

“The participants are from communities where their work is mainly mining and you see children also participating in the activity. Such training is to tell the participants about the hazards of child labour and how mining affects children’s health,” she said.

Shaba also said the participants would help to monitor, prevent, protect and and report cases of child labour to agencies that deal with child’s protection.

One of the participants, Ayuba Lagodo, from Galadimgoko in Shiroro, said the training had exposed him to ways of eliminating child labour, as major activities in his community were mainly mining and farming.

Lagodo said he would mobilise parents, youth and traders in the area on the effects of mining on the health of the children.

Another participant, Hajiya Aisha Hamza from Kuchiko in Suleja, said the training had increased her knowledge on how to end child labour.

She promised to start the step down training from her household before reaching out to members of her community.

(ghfnews)