Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Nigeria (Ratification: 2002)

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour. The Committee notes that the Federal Executive Council adopted the National Policy on Child Labour and approved the National Action Plan (NAP) for the Elimination of Child Labour 2013–17 in September 2013. The Committee notes that the ultimate goal of the national policy on child labour is to provide standardized guidelines for actors implementing the NAP with a view to drastically reducing the prevalence of child labour by 2015 and its total elimination by 2020. The NAP provides the roadmap for the implementation of the national policy, through a variety of strategies including: (i) raising awareness on the harmful effects of child labour; (ii) developing the capacities of national institutions and civil society for the reduction/elimination of child labour; (iii) mobilizing the support of international stakeholders and development partners for reduction/elimination of child labour; (iv) identifying specific activities to be implemented by various sectors and stakeholders; and (v) designing advocacy tools for use by sectors in the fight against child labour. The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the implementation of the NAP and the results achieved in eliminating child labour in the country.

Article 8. Artistic performances. The Committee previously observed that according to section 12(2) of the Child Rights Act, children under 18 are entitled to participate in cultural and artistic activities of the Nigerian, African and world communities. It reminded the Government that Article 8 of the Convention provides for the possibility of granting individual work permits, as an exception to the minimum age for admission to employment or work and, after consultation with the organizations of employers and workers concerned, for participating in activities such as artistic performances. Permits thus granted shall limit the number of hours and provide for the conditions of the authorized employment or work.

The Committee notes that section 8(a)(ii) of the Labour Standards Bill provides for an exception to the minimum age provisions whereby a child may be employed following a permit issued by the Minister, after consultation with employees and employers organizations in the relevant industry. The Committee requests the Government to indicate whether children under the minimum age who participate in artistic performances are allowed to do so following permits issued by the competent authority as indicated under section 8(a)(ii) of the Labour Standards Bill. If so, it requests the Government to indicate whether such permits provides for limiting the hours during which, and prescribe the conditions in which, such employment or work is allowed.

Article 9(1). Penalties. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes that section 9(3) of the Labour Standards Bill of 2008, establishes penalties for the offences related to the employment of children and young persons as prescribed in the First Schedule of the Bill. The Committee notes that the scale of penalties contained in this schedule only indicates Nx, N2x, N4x, N10x as administrative penalties for each contravention and Ny and N4y for the maximum fines for first and second contraventions respectively. There appears to be no further description or clarification of these penalty measures. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures to provide clarification of the penalty scale indicated in the first schedule of the Bill.

Labour inspectorate. The Committee notes from the ILO–IPEC report of 2014 that within the framework of the project entitled, Eliminating the worst forms of child labour in West Africa and Strengthening Subregional Cooperation through ECOWAS-II, child labour inspection workshops for labour inspectors of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity were conducted in Lagos and Abuja in April 2014. These workshops were attended by 96 labour inspectors during which a tool for monitoring and reporting of child labour activities was developed and validated for use at the state level. It was also mandated that each State should establish its State Steering Committee (SSC) on Child Labour to implement monitoring activities. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the establishment of the State Steering Committees in every State as well as their functioning with regard to child labour inspections carried out.