BY VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

LAGOS—Free and compulsory basic education as well as more job opportunities among others are solutions to eradicating child and slave labour in Nigeria, a national poll conducted by NOIPolls Limited has said.

The poll released, weekend, in Lagos, lamented the  alarming rate of child and slave labour in Nigeria caused by abject poverty.

According to the poll, poverty eradication programmes and youth empowerment schemes would also improve the livelihood of Nigerians which would in turn reduce the reliance on child labour for survival.

NOIPolls argued that despite several measures to combat child labour, it remained of great concern in Nigeria and noted among others that the International Labour Organisation, ILO, “estimates that about 25 per cent of Nigeria’s 80 million children under the age of 14 are involved in child labour.

Also, recently the CNN world’s child labour index featured Nigeria among the top ten worst countries for child labour. “Against this background, NOIPolls conducted its special edition poll on child labour/slavery in Nigeria to explore the views of Nigerians on the prevalence of the issue, as well as identify the causes and remedies that can help curb the situation.”