CHILD LABOR : OBINABO SET TO PROSECUTE WOMAN WHO USES GRANDSON TO MAKE MONEY
By Chidinma Ikeanyionwu
The Anambra State Women and Social Welfare Commissioner Honourable Ify Obinabo is set to prosecute offenders of child labor.
This she made known in her office in Awka when a good Samaritan brought a 7 year old boy caught hawking in Ochanja market in Onitsha during school hours.
The Women Affairs boss who expressed sadness over the recent surge in child labor noted that the state government will not relent until offenders are brought to book.
She went on to note that one of the effects of child labor is psychological instability because the victims childhood has been taken away from them.
She warned parents to enroll their children in school because the Prof Soludo led administration has given every child in Anambra free education, hence no excuse to why a child would not be in school.
Narrating his experience, the 7 year old pure water hawker by name Chinecherem Ọgazị said he is a primary 2 pupil living with his grandmother in Onitsha while his mother is in Lagos with his elder brother.
According to him, it was his grandmother who asked him to hawk pure water so that they would be able to feed. Chinecherem stated that his grandma by name Nkechi usually gives him #250 naira every day to purchase water and that he treks from 33 to Ochanja each day to make sales.
On how much he makes a day and what the money is used for, the 7 year old said that he makes about 2000 naira every day, which they use in buying rice and spaghetti for feeding.
It was during one of his entrepreneurial engagements that he was caught by some good Samaritans who brought him to the Commissioner. They also donated the sum of #10,200 naira to help enroll him in school.
Obinabo used the opportunity to appreciate the good spirited members of Ochanja market union who saw the boy and deemed it fit to bring him to him and charged others to emulate such for a better society.
As at the time of this report, the women affairs boss Hon Obinabo has summoned the grandmother while the boy is in the care of the state government.
More photos below.
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