Category Nigeria News

Ahead of the 2025 World Day Against Child Labour, the Director-General of the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale-Smatt Oyerinde, has called for urgent, sustained, and united efforts to eradicate child labour across Nigeria and the African continent.

In a statement issued to commemorate the global observance themed “Progress is clear, but there’s more to do: Let’s speed up efforts!”, Oyerinde stressed the need to move beyond commitments and accelerate concrete actions to protect vulnerable children from hazardous and exploitative labour conditions.

“Child labour not only robs children of their childhood, it erodes the foundation of national development. While we have made commendable progress, we must accelerate our efforts.

“We need to move from intention to action through stronger enforcement, greater investment in education, and robust support systems for vulnerable families,” he said.

Highlighting the significance of 12 June, the official date of the global event, Oyerinde described it as a critical picture of the millions of underaged children still trapped in dangerous forms of work, despite Nigeria’s ratification of key international conventions.

READ ALSO: Zulum Donates ₦300m To Mokwa Flood Victims

These, according to him, include the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention No. 138 on Minimum Age and Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.

He identified poverty, weak enforcement of labour laws, and limited access to education as key drivers of child labour, stressing the need for holistic solutions and collaborative engagement.

Oyerinde pointed to the ACCEL Africa Project—a strategic partnership between NECA and the ILO—as a practical framework already delivering impact in tackling the root causes of child labour.

The initiative, he noted, is focused on promoting decent work, improving livelihoods, and empowering at-risk communities to break the cycle of poverty.

“As employers, we have a responsibility to ensure that our operations, policies, and supply chains are free from child exploitation. We must integrate child protection into business practices and actively contribute to the broader goal of youth empowerment and national development,” he said.

He urged all stakeholders—governments at all levels, the private sector, organised labour, and civil society organisations—to strengthen collaboration and enforcement mechanisms, including the swift passage of revised labour legislation aimed at regulating the participation of children in the workforce.

Abdulrahman Bello, the prime suspect in the murder of a final year female student of the Kwara state College of Education, Hafsoh Lawal, told the court on Wednesday that he single-handedly carried out the cutting of the deceased into parts after taking alcohol.

Testifying before Justice Hannah Ajayi of the State High Court, while opening his defence, the suspect said that his co-defendants did not have a hand in the incident.

Abdulrahman Bello also told the court that he used the knife and cutlass found by police detectives in his two-room apartment at Olunlade area of Ilorin, the state capital, to dismember the body of the deceased.

The suspect, who denied killing the deceased, said that Hafsoh died when she gasped during sexual intercourse due to an asthma attack.

“I went out to get an inhaler for her when I noticed that she was gasping because she had asthma. By the time I came back into the room, she had died. So, I left my place to take alcohol and returned to cut the body parts into pieces,” he told the court.

READ ALSO: [Alleged ₦5.2b Fraud] Court Dismisses Ex-Jamb Registrar Dibu Ojerinde’s No-Case Submission

During cross examination by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), the prime suspect also confirmed to the court that he did not call any of his neighbours to the incident, nor did he report the matter at the police station or took the body of the deceased to hospital, “because I was afraid of her father”.

The DPP put it to the suspect that the drained blood and human parts of the deceased found in his place had not decomposed after five days of the incident, because they were immersed in alcohol for preservation.

The suspect, however, denied keeping the blood and the hand, purposely, for money-making rituals.

He said he regretted all the actions he took over the incident, adding that he was deeply sad.

The prime suspect, who insisted that he did not kill the deceased, said that he loved her, “because I can’t ever meet her kind. She cared for my life. Even, I told the Police that she made me take the 2024 NABTEB examination. And that she made me take the JAMB form in preparation for the just concluded exam. She was exceptional in my life”.

He said he was tortured by the police to say in the video evidence, presented in court, that he poisoned the food taken by the deceased and that he strangulated her to kill her.

All four co-defendants in the matter denied knowledge of the killing of the deceased when testifying before the court.

Meanwhile, all the defence counsels, unanimously, proposed seven days to file their written addresses, concurrently, before the court, while the prosecution counsel asked for 10 days to file his, after the defence counsels would have served theirs.

The Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, has dismissed the planned coalition by some political heavyweights, including ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, to unseat President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 election, saying it is bound to fail. 

Wike said this on Wednesday during the commissioning of the Arterial Road N16 (Shehu Shagari Way) from Ring Road 1 (Nnamdi Azikiwe Way) to Arterial Road N20 (Wole Soyinka Way) and other roads in the Katampe district of the nation’s capital.

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) administration is commissioning the Arterial Road N16 (Shehu Shagari Way) from Ring Road 1 (Nnamdi Azikiwe Way) to Arterial Road N20 (Wole Soyinka Way) and other roads in the Katampe district of the nation’s capital. 

President Bola Tinubu and the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, were part of the dignitaries at the event.

Watch the event below: 

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Sly Ezeokenwa, has dismissed claims that Anambra State Governor Charles Soludo endorsed President Bola Tinubu for a second term during the president’s recent visit to the state.

Speaking on The Morning Brief, a Channels Television breakfast programme, Ezeokenwa insisted that such interpretations are false and misrepresent what transpired during the presidential visit.

He maintained that Governor Soludo, who also serves as the national leader of APGA, merely welcomed the president and advocated for a unified progressive front to rebuild Nigeria.

“There is a wrong impression of the President’s visit to Anambra. It is wrong to say that Governor Soludo has endorsed President Tinubu’s second term in office. I was present during the President’s visit, and I listened to the Governor’s statement,” Ezeokenwa said.

He explained that the governor used the opportunity to invite the president into a national dialogue among ideologically progressive political parties working together for the country’s good, not to declare support for any undeclared 2027 candidacy.

READ ALSO [2027] Planned Coalition To Unseat Tinubu Bound To Fail, Says Wike

“What the Governor did was to call on the President as one of the leaders and a member of one of the progressive parties. Because we are trying as much as possible to see how we can make Nigeria work,” he said.

According to Ezeokenwa, Soludo’s comments were made within the framework of his policy blueprint, which encourages cooperation between all parties that share progressive values, regardless of political differences.

He further clarified that APGA has not yet taken any position on the 2027 presidential election, nor has President Tinubu declared his intention to seek re-election.

According to him, additionally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has yet to release a timetable for the next presidential contest.

“It is the decision of APGA to determine whether we’re going to have a candidate for the presidency next year or not. And Mr. President is yet to declare whether he is running for another term in office,” Ezeokenwa noted.