By VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

INTERNATIONAL Labour Organisation, ILO, Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, CEACR, has called on Nigeria to take necessary measures towards ensuring that the Occupational Safety and Health Bill become law .

The bill contains hazardous work that should not be performed by children under the age of 18 years.

The CEARC is the ILO supervisory body which addresses observations and directs request to  member states.

The committee, in its 2013 report, charged government to ensure that the Child Rights Act of 2003, which prohibits the worst form of child labour in the country, comes into force in all the states of the federation.

The report noted that only 26 states have enforced the Child Rights Act 2003, and called on government to take necessary measures to ensure that all states comply with the provisions of the law before the end of 2013.

The committee further asked government of Nigeria to provide information with regard to enforcement of the Child Rights Act in the remaining states.

On the Safety and Health Bill, the committee frowned at Section 28 (1)(c) and (2) of the Child Rights Act provides that children under the age of 18 years shall not lift, carry or move heavy materials that are likely to harm their health.of hazardous work.

However, the Federal Government on the other hand, had indicated that the Occupational Safety and Health Bill, which is currently before the National Assembly, contains a list of types of hazardous work prohibited to young persons under the age of 18 years. In addition, the Bill, government explained has also identified the areas where the types of hazardous work exist.

Consequently, the Committee urged government to expedite action in the passage of the Bill and requested the government to supply a copy to it, once it has been adopted.

The Committee requested the government to “provide information with regard to the enforcement of the Child Rights Acts in the remaining states where it has not been enforced”.

The ILO supervisory body equally asked government to take necessary measures to validate and adopt the National Policy on Child Labour and the National Action Plan against Child Labour developed within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) project.

It also charged government to provide information on its implementation and impact on eliminating child labour.

Meanwhile, the ILO boss said clear lessons emerged from the plenary sessions that demonstrated a growing understanding of what needs to be done to eliminate child labour in a sustainable way, and that not only governments but also other actors – workers’ and employers’ organisations, businesses and civil society – are taking up their responsibility and showing increasing leadership.

Ryder warned that as the number of child labourers go down, the job of combating child labour will get tougher because it will be about getting to those children who are difficult to reach – child soldiers, children being exploited sexually, children working on farm fields and other dangerous environments.