ILO Urges FG To Scale Up Investments In Social Protection

The International Labour Organisation has urged the federal government FG to scale up investment in social protection in order to eliminate child labour.

The ILO Country Director in Nigeria, Ms Vanessa Phala, made the call during a road walk in celebration of world day against child abused in Abuja.

The theme of the event was, “Universal social protection to end Child Labour.”

Phala charged the Nigerian government on the importance of increasing investments in social protection to eliminate child labour.

She said, “I call on the Nigerian government establish universal child and family benefits and extend social protection to the informal and rural economy.

“I also charge the FG to increase investments in social protection to make it a right for all Nigerians, including children.

Phala stressed on the importance of social protection which had taken prominent role in national and state-level policy documents, development plans and budgetary allocations.

Phala recalled that the last ILO social security inquiry performed in collaboration with the government was in 2019 which showed that only 12 per cent of Nigerian children benefitted from social protection mainly through the Home-Grown School Feeding programme.

The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Ms Kachallom Daju in her remarks said that the government was working to ensure a drastic reduction in child labour.