In its bid to curb child labour in the country, a non-governmental organisation, AKHIN, which caters for homeless youngsters living on the streets and destitute, has enjoined government at all levels and members of the Nigerian community to uphold the rights of children.
The Founder of AKHIN, Israel Balogun, gave the advice at the Agege Train Station, Lagos, after their train trip from Ibadan as part of the exposure trips initiated by the organisation as part of efforts to rehabilitate some children under its care.
She said the trip was meant to send a message to the community on the need to work together to put an end to child labour.
He said: “I picked almost all these kids personally from where they were being used for child labour. Some of them were housemaids; I have four of them who were living under the bridge but they were rescued by some people who used them for hawking and in other areas to make money.
“We saw the resilience, courage and fearlessness in these children; that’s why we called them AKHIN. The children have never in their lives had the privilege of seeing a train, not to talk of entering it.
“So, we decided to take them on the train tour; it is not limited to this train tour. They will be visiting other places as well. We are taking them to the seaport, the beach, international golf centre and airport. We just want them to have exposure and wider understanding of their communities.”
Balogun said the organisation, which operates in three states – Ibafo, Ogun State, Oyo town, Oyo State and Okuku, Osun State – has the support of its Board of Trustees and well meaning individuals in the country.
“We have a Board of Trustees (BoT), which is supporting us; we have individuals who know about what we do and are supporting us. Some of these kids are on scholarship; they are being sponsored to the university level by individuals. I also have my personal business that comes into it, which makes us to do what we are doing.
“One other thing that we intend to do by the exposure trips is for them to personally send messages to the community on the need to work together to put an end to child labour. We need to work together to put an end to child labour because the children have the same right as ours, hence the government needs to make that very important,” he added.
