By VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

LAGOS – VICE-CHANCELLOR of Joseph Ayo Babalola University, JABU, Osun State, Professor Sola Fajana, has expressed concern over increasing cases of child labour in the country.

He noted that child labour was  predominant in Nigeria compared to other African nations.
In a paper on Decent Jobs in Lagos, Prof. Fajana, said: “In Nigeria, child labour averages 28.8 per cent of the population under 15 years.”

Represented by Mr. Ranti Samuel, a lecturer at Lagos State University, LASU, Fajana said, “In 2000-2001, a child labour survey was conducted and the findings are that there were 15,027,612 working children comprising 7,812,756 males and 7,214,856 females.

”It was also discovered that six million children,  of it 51 per cent girls and 49 per cent boys were found not attending school; while over 70 per cent of working children (either schooling or non- schooling), started work at ages five to nine, nationwide.”