The Health and Educational Consequences of Child Labour in Nigeria

This research work investigated the health and educational consequences of child labour in Nigeria
using descriptive survey. To achieve this, two research questions guided the study. The population of
the study was the entire child labourers in Nigeria. Staged stratified sampling technique was used to
select 1,800 child labourers from 6 states of the federation. Data were collected, using structured
questionnaire, and in-depth interview. The data collected were analyzed using simple percentage and
frequency. The findings revealed that child labourers in Nigeria engaged in all sorts of child labour
such as hawking, begging, carry heavy loads and experience a lot of health and educational problems
ranging from injuries, pains of some sort, traffic accidents, chemical poisoning, pneumonia, craw-craw
difficulty in breathing, which have other serious health implications. The findings also identified
poverty, greed, broken family and others as some of the causes of child labour in Nigeria. It was also
revealed that children’s education suffer a lot as they do not receive sound education.
Recommendations were made to curb this cankerworm in the society. Nigerian governments and nongovernmental
agencies have shown considerable interests and concerns on the problems of child
labour in the country, and have suggested practical policies and strategies to put an end to or
minimize this problem, but their efforts are not adequate enough as the situation worsens on daily
basis due to economic recession, political instability, greed, cultural, religious, and traditional beliefs.