Child Labor

       When you walk through the streets of Lagos and probably any other place in Nigeria (most especially very busy areas), child labor is seen on a constant basis. In fact it's what you see on a norm. It has become an everyday scene. I wonder how these young children survive everyday with loads and loads of work to be done just to put meals on their family's table. 

I remember as a child, oh no!!! i so much detested errands.**booooola, wa lo ra ewedu wa ni saale ile baba chairman** I would grumble like a nasty child, squeeze my face like bread that fell inside  cold water and not only that, when I get back, I would cut d leaves, blend and cook it, sweep, scream my head off to put my siblings in order... it wasn't funny. I felt like I was being used as a maid (thankfully i wasn't deprived education). Now that's how some kids are being used and over used.

       Child labor is the employment of children in any work that
deprives children of their childhood, interfering with the ability to attend regular school and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful. This is exploitative. In developing countries with high poverty and poor schooling opportunities, child labor is still prevalent. Poverty and lack of schools are considered as the primary cause of child labor. 

       Major causes are widespread poverty, rapid urbanization (a population shift from rural to urban areas,"the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas", and the ways in which each society adapts to the change, breakdown in extended family affiliation E.t.c Traditionally, children have worked with their families, but today children are forced to work on their own and their family survival. 

It's quite painful this is mostly associated with the girl child. You see some of these girls working at an early age than boys, particularly in the rural areas. They also suffer triple burden of housework, schoolwork, work out of home whether paid or unpaid. This children who work suffer from fatigue, irregular attendance at school, lack of comprehension and motivation, improper socialization, exposure to risk of sexual abuse, high likelihood of being involved in crime and all sort of dangerous things. 

       Sometimes I wail deep down my heart when I see kids suffer so much. It breaks me, I feel like I want to adopt every one of them at once. I see the pain and the struggles. And for the records, it's not only children on the streets that go through these pain. I've seen kids from wealthy home go through this, most especially if the child is from a polygamous family.**e go come be like say their papa no get money, d hustle go double like mad, their papa go dey make noise, they shout say if una no commot my dormort go find work do... I go change am for una... forget say I be ya papa** this is what they go through every blessed day. Some of these kids walk extra miles hawking, running after commercial vehicles. Some get injured in the process or even die and it's annoying that the  government are not do anything about it (they are more concerned about their bellies and selfish desires). The government would make promises upon promises and take little or no actions. It's disheartening because these are children. Children that are leaders of tomorrow. Children that would take Nigeria to greater heights in the future. It's hidden from the public's eye. Everyone has turned a blind eye to child labor because it's now a way of life. It's not fair enough, only if we look at these kids like they are ours!!! 

Child labor should be stopped at any length... it is gradually killing our children!!!