US embassy cable - 05LAGOS1361

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 LAGOS 001361 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER; DRL/IL FOR LAUREN HOLT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID, EIND, ELAB, ETRD, PHUM, SOCI, NI 
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: UPDATE OF CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR 
MANDATORY REPORTING REQUIREMENTS 
 
REF: A) E-MAIL OF DRAFT 2005 LABOR REPORT FROM TINA 
 
     MCCARTER B) STATE 143552 C) LAGOS 1914 
 
1. As per ref B, para 5, Post met with Ministry of Labor, 
ILO, UNICEF, law enforcement and immigration, as well as NGO 
representatives to update the mandatory child labor report. 
The following paragraphs are updates keyed to the topics 
listed in ref B, para 7. Post has provided a separate 
response to ref A.  Many of the facts included in ref A but 
not mentioned in ref C need to be updated and corrected. 
 
2. Laws and regulations proscribing the worst forms of child 
labor 
 
From Lagos 1914: 
Yes.  President Obasanjo signed ILO Convention No. 182 on the 
Worst Forms of Child Labor in 2002, following ratification by 
the National Assembly in June 2001. Obasanjo also has signed 
ILO Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age for Employment and ILO 
Convention No. 111 on Equality of Occupation. 
 
Federal legislation also outlaws forced or compulsory labor. 
In most sectors, the minimum work age is 15 
years, which is consistent with the age for completing 
educational requirements. The law prohibits employment of 
children less than 15 years of age in commerce and industry 
and restricts other child labor to home-based agricultural or 
domestic work. The law states that children may not be 
employed in agricultural or domestic work for more than 8 
hours per day. Apprenticeship of youths at the age of 13 is 
allowed under specific conditions. 
 
In July 2003, the National Assembly passed the Child Rights 
Act, bringing together into one law provisions from various 
existing laws, including the prohibition of exploitative 
labor. The Act must be signed by all the states. To date, 
three of thirty-six states have signed, and the others are 
reviewing the Act. 
 
August 2005 Update: 
As of today, a total of six states have passed the Child 
Rights Act. 
 
3. Regulations for implementation and enforcement of 
proscriptions against the worst forms of child labor 
 
From Lagos 1914: 
Mixed.  Since 2000, the government has had a memorandum of 
understanding with the International Programme on 
Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) to fund and develop a plan 
to implement provisions of Convention 182. 
 
Nigeria passed the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Law 
Enforcement and Administration Act in June 2003. 
The Act makes it a crime to force a person into labor outside 
Nigeria; however, it apparently does not 
explicitly outlaw forced labor in Nigeria. This apparent gap 
in the legislation currently is in review. 
However, preexisting legislation would seem to outlaw forced 
labor within Nigeria. As called for by the Act, 
the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in 
Persons (NAPTIP) was created in August 2003 to 
enforce the provisions of the Act and other related laws, 
including provisions addressing child labor and 
trafficking. 
 
Since its establishment in 2003, NAPTIP reports receiving 
more than fifty complaints of child labor, 
especially domestic labor. NAPTIP officials claim, however, 
that their ability to act on the complaints is 
limited.  Its mandate they claim is unclear due to the lack 
of uniformity in the body of laws affecting child 
labor.  However, some high-profile cases of trafficking in 
children have been pursued. A widely reported case 
occurred in Oyo, Ogun, and Osun states in September and 
October of 2003. Nigerian police, alerted by staff from 
a nongovernmental organization (NGO), found more than 200 
children from Benin forced to work in stone and 
granite quarries. The children were returned to Benin, and 
investigations are ongoing in Benin and Nigeria to 
prosecute the traffickers. In another case, in Cross River 
State, police arrested two traffickers and 
prevented sixty Nigerian children from being sent to work on 
cocoa plantations in Odun State. 
 
The Ministry of Employment, Labour, and Productivity has a 
unit to deal specifically with child labor 
issues, as well as an inspections department whose major 
responsibilities include enforcement of legal 
provisions relating to conditions of work and protection of 
workers. However, there are fewer than 50 
inspectors for the entire country, and the Ministry has 
conducted inspections only in the formal business 
sector, in which the incidence of child labor is not 
significant. 
 
Other agencies that share responsibility for enforcing child 
labor laws include the Federal Ministry of Women 
Affairs and Youth Development, the Child Rights Department of 
the National Human Rights Commission, and 
local government areas of the thirty-six states and federal 
capital territory. President Obasanjo also 
selected a special assistant for human trafficking and child 
labor in June 2003. Available legal remedies 
include criminal penalties and civil fines. 
 
August 2005 Update: 
NAPTIP has led the establishment of state-level 
anti-trafficking committees, consisting of immigration 
officials, civil society organizations, law enforcement 
agents, and federal ministries in 22 states.  Being 
constituted at the local level, these committees are more 
effective at sensitizing the local population about the 
dangers of trafficking than if the education and outreach 
were performed through highly centralized federal mechanisms. 
 
The Ministry of Employment, Labour, and Productivity has an 
office with an inspectorate in every state.  There are 
approximately 420 inspectors, and 120 of them are dedicated 
to the informal economy.  However, the inspectors are not as 
effective as they could be, due to inadequate funding and 
training. 
 
4. Whether there are social programs to prevent and withdraw 
children from the worst forms of child labor 
 
From Lagos 1914: 
Yes.  Private and government initiatives to stem the 
incidence of the worst forms of child labor and child 
employment in general are on-going.  These programs, however, 
suffer from financing and human resource 
constraints. In conjunction with the ILO, the government 
formulated a national program of action in 
support of child rights, survival, protection, development, 
and participation; however, the program 
has shown few results due to logistical problems and changing 
personnel in the Ministry of Employment, 
Labour, and Productivity. The government is implementing the 
ILO/IPEC West Africa Cocoa Agriculture 
Project (WACAP) to combat hazardous child labor in the cocoa 
and other agricultural sub-sectors and prevent 
the trafficking of children for labor exploitation. 
 
Laws call for universal basic education throughout Nigeria; 
however, authorities do not consistently 
enforce laws requiring parents to send their children to 
school. President Obasanjo launched the Universal 
Basic Education (UBE) program in 1999, at the beginning of 
his elected administration. The program aims to make 
education free and compulsory for all children at the primary 
and junior secondary school levels. Progress 
towards the goals of this program varies among the states. 
 
The British Council program that provides technical 
assistance for UBE says that about twenty-eight of 
thirty-six states have declared free basic education as 
official policy. In theory all children in these states 
have "access" to free education. However, in practice 
education is not free due to the numerous associated 
costs of books, transport, uniforms, etc., so actual access 
is considerably below 100 percent even in these 
states. As of July 2003, the national net enrollment rate was 
below 60 percent. The completion rate was 
about 64 percent, and the transition rate from primary to 
secondary was 44 percent. Among other factors, 
analysts blame underfunding and a lack of qualified teachers 
for the shortcomings of the UBE program. 
 
Several programs by NGOs and international organizations 
(IOs) address child labor in Nigeria. 
UNICEF undertakes a mix of advocacy, awareness-raising, and 
support activities across the country. One program 
works to remove young girls from the street hawking trade and 
relocate them to informal educational 
settings. ILO programs work to involve communities and 
schools in withdrawing children from exploitative 
situations such as street hawking and prostitution. The 
programs aim to reintegrate the children into school, 
if possible, or otherwise provide vocational training. A new 
ILO program partners with the News Agency of 
Nigeria to raise awareness and build media capacity in 
eliminating child labor and trafficking. 
The Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation 
(WOTCLEF) (initiated by the wife of 
Nigeria's vice president) focuses on advocacy, counseling, 
and rehabilitation. The organization has 
organized national and international conferences, presented 
an anti-trafficking bill to the National 
Assembly, and established prevention and awareness programs 
in primary schools. 
 
 
August 2005 Update: 
UNICEF has implemented a children's congress program.  In 
each state, one child, age 10-17, is chosen from each local 
government area to represent his/her area.  The congress 
meets in the capital for moderated discussions of civil 
rights and the evils of human trafficking.  Each 
representative is expected to return to their community with 
a report.  A national congress has also been formed, and 
UNICEF claims that the progress and positive effects of the 
program are significant. 
 
UNICEF is also collaborating with the Nigerian Government on 
a Strategy for Acceleration of Girls Education in Nigeria, 
which seeks to narrow the gap between boys' and girls' access 
to education. 
 
5. Does the country have a comprehensive policy aimed at the 
elimination of the worst forms of child labor? 
 
From Lagos 1914: 
Yes.  While there is no single national child labor law, 
Nigeria has made significant progress toward 
developing comprehensive child labor policy. The collective 
body of domestic labor laws and 
international agreements provides a solid legal foundation 
for addressing the problems through 
institutional means. The Child Rights Act brings many of the 
various provisions under one law, but some 
parties are still pushing for a formal national child labor 
policy and advocacy strategy. 
 
August 2005 Update: 
No change from previous report. 
 
6.Is the country making continual progress toward eliminating 
the worst forms of child labor? 
 
From Lagos 1914: 
Yes.  Nigeria has made qualitative progress toward 
eliminating the worst forms of child labor. Awareness 
has spread throughout civil society and the government has 
shown its commitment to the issue. NGOs report 
having a strong relationship with members of the National 
Assembly. They say many legislators are 
sensitized to the issues and ready to work with them. 
 
Unfortunately, in spite of programs designed to reduce child 
labor of all types, economic hardship has 
resulted in high numbers of children in commercial activities 
aimed at enhancing meager family income. 
Children frequently are employed as beggars, hawkers, and bus 
conductors in urban areas. The use of children 
as domestic servants also is common. Few data are available 
to analyze changes in the incidence of child 
labor. The only survey conducted by Obasanjo administration, 
the National Modular Child Labour 
Survey Nigeria 2000/2001, reported approximately 15 million 
children working in Nigeria. Of these, 6 
million were not attending school and more than 2 million 
were working very long days (15 or more hours per day). 
 
Trafficking in children is a problem in Nigeria. The country 
is an origin, transit, and destination country 
for trafficked persons. Children are trafficked internally to 
work as domestics or on cocoa and orange 
plantations. Children are also trafficked to other nearby 
countries to serve as domestics or agricultural 
laborers. Disconcertingly, NGOs say many parents are pleased 
with the opportunity to traffic their children, 
believing that they are providing a better future for their 
children and themselves. Children trafficked 
internally often return to their villages at Christmas with 
gifts purchased for the families by their 
traffickers, who seek to create a false sense of economic 
gain and generate a supply of future victims. 
In 2003, many states that arrested traffickers were forced to 
release them when victims and their families 
refused to testify. There are no reliable statistics on the 
overall number of trafficked persons per year. 
The government is working to eliminate international and 
internal child trafficking. It provides support to 
international NGOs, which protect trafficking victims. 
Nigerian embassies in destination countries provide 
assistance to victims, and the Foreign Ministry created a 
position to facilitate victim repatriation. 
 
Internally, regional centers to monitor child rights 
violations have been established. There is federal and 
state government acknowledgement of trafficking, and 
prevention efforts are underway at all levels. 
Awareness campaigns, undertaken by NGOs, the U.N., prominent 
politicians, state governments, and members 
of the press continue to gain widespread attention. The 
government has also initiated prosecutorial 
proceedings against traffickers. 
 
A host of issues intertwine to compound the child labor 
problem in Nigeria. Roughly 70 percent of Nigeria's 135 
million people live on less than $1 per day.  Poverty is by 
far the largest push-factor leading to child 
employment.  A national HIV/AIDS rate of five percent 
exacerbates poverty and contributes to the incidence of 
children living without one or both parents. The complexity 
of the child labor problem requires a 
comprehensive social, economic, and legal approach. 
 
August 2005 Update: 
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons 
(NAPTIP) continues to expand its activities against 
trafficking, and has recorded three successful convictions of 
traffickers and has two more cases pending.  In March 2005, 
police rescued more than 100 trafficked children, including 
67 children aged between one and 14 concealed in a truck, 
ostensibly transporting frozen food.  The children were 
headed to Lagos, potentially to wind up as domestic servants. 
 In July, police in Cross River State, acting on a tip, 
stopped a bus carrying 40 children to Cameroon for forced 
labor.  The children were returned to their homes in Cross 
River and Ebonyi States, and NAPTIP is planning to prosecute 
the traffickers. 
 
The UN Office on Drugs and Crimes provides assistance with 
research, law enforcement training, and the creation of 
regional communication networks to the government of Nigeria 
in the Global Program Against Trafficking in Human Beings. 
Nigeria is also partnered with Italy in the UN Interregional 
Crime and Justice Research Institute pilot project, focusing 
specifically on trafficking in children from Nigeria to Italy. 
BROWNE