Nigeria Child Labour Survey 2022

First round

This report aims to assess the prevalence of child labour in Nigeria and analyse the interaction between child labour, schooling and children's well-being. Using data collected by the National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the ILO and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment of Nigeria in the Nigeria Child Labour and Forced Labour Survey (NCFLS) 2022, this report also examines the patterns of child employment, the conditions of this employment and the key household characteristics that may contribute to child employment and child labour.

More than 62.9 million children 5 to 17 years old live in Nigeria, representing 30.3 per cent of the population. The NCFLS data was collected from a nationally representative sample of 16,418 households. The survey shows that more children live in rural areas than urban areas: 62.4 per cent (39,252,721) reside in rural areas compared to 37.6 per cent (23,647,758) in urban areas.

The current survey allowed for the classification of children 5 to 17 years old into four mutually exclusive categories: children who are exclusively working, children who are exclusively in school, children who are working and in school, and children who neither work nor go to school. The survey indicates that among the 5-14 age group,
42.3 per cent are full time students who are not engaged in any form of economic activity, 35.3 per cent are in school and working simultaneously, and 11.2 per cent are working only. Among the 15-17 age group, a larger proportion of children are working only, at 21.9 per cent of the population of that age. Furthermore, only 24.7 per cent are exclusively in school and 45.3 per cent are working and in school.
Since one of the survey's main objectives is to measure child labour, it is important to understand the legislative structure surrounding child labour in Nigeria. In the country, the Child Rights Act (2003) prohibits children in the 5-11 age group from engaging in any economic activity but allows children 12 to 14 years olds to engage in light work, while those in the 15-17 age group are allowed to be involved in economic activities that are not hazardous.

The survey shows that 24,673,485 children 5 to,17 years old (39.2 per cent) are in child labour; of children in child labour, 60.8 per cent (14,990,674) are in the 5-11 age group, 20.8 per cent(5,132,574) are in the 12-14 age group and 18.4 per cent (4,550,237) are in the 15-17 age group (table A.7). A slight percentage difference can be seen in the prevalence of child labour between males (39.6 per cent) and females (38.8 per cent). The disparity between children residing in rural and urban areas is high; while 44.8 per cent of children in rural areas are involved in child labour, 30.0 per cent of children in urban areas are involved in child labour.

Substantial differences are evident by age group in children's involvement in economic activity, child labour and hazardous work. Overall, of children 5 to 17 years old, 50.5 per cent (31,756,302 children) are engaged in economic activity, 39.2 per cent (24,673,485) are involved in child labour and 22.9 per cent (14,390,353) are involved in hazardous work. For the 5-11 age group, 40.7 per cent (14,990,674) are in economic activity and, therefore, the same number and percentage of children of that age are in child labour as children under the age of 11 cannot work,' and 15.8 per cent (5,824,667) are in hazardous work. For children in the 12-14 age group, 61.9 per cent (8,583,312) are in economic activity, 37.0 per cent (5,132,574) are in child labour and 29.0 per cent (4,015,447) are in hazardous work. Among the children in the 15-17 age group, 67.1 per cent (8,182,316) are in economic activity and 37.3 per cent (4,550,237) are in child labour since, for this age group, only children that are in hazardous work are considered as being in child labour. Therefore, 37.3 per cent (4,550,237) also represents the percentage of 15- to 17-year-olds in hazardous work.
The involvement in economic activity of children in child labour can be broken down into three distinct non-mutually exclusive forms of work: employment, own-use production and unpaid trainee work. Of the children in child labour, 24.2 per cent are in employment, 93.8 per cent are involved in own-use production and 11.3 per cent are involved in unpaid trainee work.

Focusing on children in child labour who are in the form of work qualified as employment allows an analysis of their involvement in child labour by the branch of economic activity in which they are employed (agriculture, industry or services). Most of the children 5 to 17 years old in child labour who are in employment work in the agriculture sector (56.8 per cent). Of the remaining children in employment and child labour, 25.8 per cent are employed in the service sector and 17.4 per cent are employed in the industry sector.

This survey also provides information on how school attendance interacts with child labour. The results show that school attendance is negatively affected by child labour. A total of 81.4 per cent of children 6 to 14 years old not in child labour attend school, while this figure falls to 75.1 per cent for children in child labour.

A final important facet of the survey is the information it provides on the instance of injury among children in child labour. Of these children, 16.3 per cent have experienced an injury in the workplace. This reveal that many children experience direct harm from their involvement in child labour.