The Nexus of Street Trading and Juvenile Delinquency: A Study of Chanchaga Local Government Area of Niger State, Nigeria
- June 7, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: IJRISS, Sociology
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue V, May 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
HASSAN, Ibrahim Muhammad1, AKUNESIOBIKE Chibueze Adindu2, UGWUOKE O. Cyril PH.D.3
1,2Department of Sociology & Anthropolgy, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
3Department of Sociology & Anthropolgy, Faculty of the Social Sciences, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
I. INTRODUCTION
Globally, the number of working children has been decreasing around the world in recent years, but child labour has continued to be a widespread problem today, especially in developing countries (Paola, Viviana, Flavia & Furio2007). International Programme on Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC 2016) reported that between 2012 to 2016, about 182 million children in the developing world aged 5-14 years were engaged in work. Against this background, governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have focused their efforts on tackling in particular the worst forms of child labour such as forced and bonded labour, which put children in physically and mentally harmful working conditions (Bunnak 2007).
According to Ekong (2016), in most developing countries, 1 in every 5 children work; and 1 in every 3 children work in Africa, though there are significant differences in economic activity rates across these regions. Child labour is widespread and has been on the increase in Nigeria, where 45percent of the total population, of over 140 million people, has been found to be children under the age of 15 years (Dimeji and Arielle 2008). A huge 15 million children, under the age of 15 years, are engaged in one form of labour or another in Nigeria. A majority of these children are exposed to long hours of work in very dangerous and unhealthy environments (Bada 2015). Children in Nigeria are employed in public places and markets: as street vendors (64%); beggars and shoe shiners (4%); car washers/watchers (6%); scavengers (5%); and feet washers (8%) (Mustapha & Mustapha 2014). In northern Nigeria, children who survive on the street by begging are referred to as `almajirai’. The rise in the rate of child labour in the country might have been a consequence of the demand for cheap labour and poverty (Dammert and Galdo 2013), although, children have always worked in Nigeria.
