The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Bolaji Adebiyi has affirmed the readiness of his Ministry to continue to champion the renewed fight against child labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and forced labour in line with emerging global trends in labour administration.

The Permanent Secretary stated this in his office today while addressing the strategy meeting of the National Steering Committee on Child Labour

According to him, “let me acknowledge that one of the emerging global trends in labour administration is the renewed fight against child labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and forced labour as encapsulated in the Alliance 8.7. Nigeria as a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations should not be found behind but rather, be at the forefront of the pursuit of these objectives.”

Furthermore, Adebiyi emphasized that the fight against the scourge of Child Labour will require the innovation and collaboration of stakeholders as the Federal Government cannot do it alone. “Eradication of child labour can only be accelerated through leveraging expertise across diverse fields. Hence, Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals and Alliance 8.7 emphatically requests stakeholders in the fight against the scourge of child labour to work together in new innovative and collaborative ways.” He enthused.

Setting agenda for the meeting, the Permanent Secretary said that the meeting should among others, ensure awareness creation and sensitization on the Reporting Template for the Elimination of Child Labour in Nigeria, consequently, a national registry of High-Level Desk Officers on Child Labour in all MDAs will be established and there will be immediate commencement of the usage of the validated Reporting Template on the Elimination of Child Labour in Nigeria.

Earlier in his remarks, the Director Inspectorate in the Ministry, Mr. Solomon Ajibola appreciated the Permanent Secretary’s resolve to support efforts geared towards eradicating child labour in Nigeria.

He advocated the need to engage preventive measures toward eradicating the scourge of child labour in the country, saying “We just have to look inwards, our primary focus is the reporting aspect of the programme and we want to come up with a National all-embracing Child Labour Report during the first quarter of the year.