The Federal Government (FG) says it will prosecute 634 child labour offenders for the crimes they allegedly committed between 2018 and 2019.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, disclosed this during a workshop for media practitioners on child labour reporting and presentation of the National Advocacy Strategy on the Elimination of Child Labour in Abuja.

According to a statement on Monday by the ministry’s spokesman, Charles Akpan, the minister stated that the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, as the coordinating ministry on the National Committee on Child Labour, has since 2013 achieved a lot.

“These include, among others, the development of the National Policy on Child Labour, the National Action Plan on the Elimination of Child Labour and the Development and Validation of the National Reporting Template on Child Labour,” the statement titled, ‘FG set to prosecute 634 child labour offenders,’ said.

Represented by the Director, Inspectorate Department in the ministry, Mr Dauda Ajuwon, the information minister noted that the state Labour Offices reported 5,401 and 3,937 child labour infractions in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

According to him, 1,494 and 1,278 victims and their families have been empowered in 2018 and 2019 respectively, while 287 and 342 offenders were being prosecuted.

Ngige emphasised that a good advocacy strategy and effective child labour reporting was very important in the attainment of ‘Target 8.7 of the Sustainable Development Goals’ which seeks to eliminate child labour, especially its worst forms by 2025.

The statement read, “Ngige recalled that the Accelerating Action for the Elimination of Child Labour in supply chains in Africa, tagged ACCEL Africa Project, was launched in Nigeria on 2nd May 2019 in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation through the support of the Government of Netherlands.”.