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| Child Labour and Its Implications for Child Development in Cross River State, Nigeria |
Ekoh Livinus Akajife, Desmond O. Nnamani, Jude Chukwuemeka Okafor
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Abstract:
The phenomenon of child labour has become prominent globally with serious implications for the survival of the children. It has been observed that poverty, unemployment, low income, corruption and cheap labour force many poor families to send their children to work as house help or more. Child labour has left many severe consequences on children and their families. The consequences of child labour on child development are obvious. They include health hazard, physical abuse, fatigue, poor performance in school, academic wastage, sexual abuse, accident, youth violence among others. Physical and health consequences of child labour include stunting, breathing problems owing to exposure to toxic substances, accident proneness, contamination of cuts and wounds. While cognitive for problems include delinquent attitude, truant behaviour, high dropout rate and achievement deficits, social and physiological consequences include isolation of working children from their families and peer-groups, stigmatization of work by peers, lowering of self-esteem of children and perception of relative deprivation. On this premise, this paper investigates causes; perception as well as implications of child labour for child development and adopt structural strain theory as the theoretical framework. However, relevant recommendations are made.
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