Date: 2017-06-09

An Ilorin based legal practitioner, Mr Olutimi Folorunsho has identified poverty as the main cause of child labour in the country.

Folorunsho said this in Ilorin on Thursday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said that the high rate of poverty had led to increased rate of child exploitation in the country.

"Without mincing word, poverty is the major cause of child labour in the country and that has ruined the lives of so many Nigerian children," Folorunsho said.

According to him, some parents cannot afford to provide for the needs of their children, therefore, they are forced give them out for menial and undignified jobs.

"In the course of hawking, some children get exposed to evil vices such as smoking, prostitution, drug abuse, robbery and even cultism," he said.

Folorunsho said that the rate at which the children were being subjected to slavery would definitely have negative effects on their future.

He therefore warned parents to desist from using their children for hawking and other jobs meant for adults, to avoid taking the blame for contributing to their being wayward and causing societal ills in the future.

The lawyer also urged the government to provide free education and enacts laws to protect children's right for the country to have a secured future.