‡ Child labor understood as the worst forms of child labor per se under Article 3(a)–(c) of ILO C. 182.

Children at Higher Risk

Children in and near Benin City, especially homeless children, including Almajiri children, are at higher risk of being trafficked as Benin City is a major human trafficking hub in Africa, with children exploited in forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Further, children from primarily rural areas within the country are at higher risk of being subjected to child labor, with girls recruited for domestic work and sex trafficking, while boys are recruited for street vending, domestic work, mining, agriculture, and begging. Children are involved in illegal mining, including in the northwest of the country. They use chisels and hammers, and descend into dark pits. Non-state armed groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria West Africa forced children into armed conflict and contributed to the displacement of millions of Nigerians into internally displaced people camps, including children. Children in camps were vulnerable to labor exploitation. Research has found that girls abducted by Boko Haram were subjected to sexual and physical violence; forced to work as domestic servants, midwives, tailors, and caretakers for the elderly; and carried weapons to storage areas or were forced into combat as suicide bombers. Boys were recruited by force into combat, assembling arms, and acting as couriers, porters, and combatants. Reports indicate that rescued children were subjected to ill treatment and beatings while in military custody.

Barriers to Education Access

Research suggests that one-third of all Nigerian children are out of school. Northeastern and northwestern states have female primary net attendance rates of 47.7 percent and 47.3 percent, respectively. Rapid population growth in Nigeria is also driving the informal education sector, with several million boys in the north going to Quranic schools known as Almajiri. The government does not officially recognize these schools, and students attending Almajiri schools are officially considered to be out of school. The Almajiri system includes a component of child labor, with some teachers tasking older children with menial jobs and other children forced into begging. Some corrupt teachers exploit children, mostly boys from rural areas, in forced labor in begging and seasonal agricultural work, including in Cameroon and Chad. Children living in unregulated, makeshift “boarding schools” are exposed to disease due to neglect and unsanitary living conditions; some teachers and older students physically and sexually abuse younger students. Observers report that worsening poverty may have increased enrollment at these schools as well as vulnerability to forced labor. Reports also suggest that children lacking birth certificates or other formal documentation have been denied access to public schools. Although it is unclear how widespread this issue is, research suggests that it is most common in the northeastern region and rural areas. In addition, the widespread increase in kidnappings, killings, village raids, and cattle-rustling throughout the Northwest and North Central regions led by organized criminal groups has contributed to the intermittent closure of schools throughout the region, with these challenges being more acute in rural areas. Although free and compulsory education is federally mandated by the Education Act, little enforcement of compulsory education laws occurs at the state level. School fees are often charged in practice, and the cost of materials can be prohibitive for families. When families experience economic hardship, the enrollment of boys is typically prioritized over the enrollment of girls. Other barriers to education include a lack of trained teachers, sexual harassment, inadequate sanitation facilities, poor infrastructure, and fear of abduction or attack while at school.

In Nigeria, 35 of the 36 states have adopted and implemented the Child’s Right Act (CRA), leaving the state of Kano in northern Nigeria with a legal statute that does not meet international standards for the prohibition against the use of children in illicit activities. Furthermore, under the CRA, certain provisions of the Labor Act that are not in compliance with international standards may remain in force. This includes Section 59, which sets the minimum age for employment at age 12 in contradiction to the CRA, which only permits children under age 18 to engage in light work for family members. The minimum age for work is lower than the compulsory education age of 15, which may encourage children to leave school before the completion of compulsory education. In addition, the Labor Act permits children of any age to do light work in agriculture and domestic work if they are working with a family member, which does not meet international standards. Furthermore, the minimum age protections in the Labor Act do not apply to children who are self-employed or working in the informal economy. The law also falls below the international standard because it fails to establish a minimum age for voluntary state military recruitment with sufficient safeguards for voluntariness. Lastly, children are not excluded from the Terrorism Prevention Act’s penalty of life imprisonment for assisting in acts of terrorism and are implicitly included as people in the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act.

In 2024, 2,010 labor inspectors conducted 7,610 worksite inspections, finding 11 child labor violations with 9 resulting in civil penalties and 4 civil penalties collected. The government also reported 58 cases of employment of a child domestic worker and in which child victims of trafficking were rescued and transferred to rehabilitation facilities. Additionally, 17 prosecutions were initiated and 5 resolved during the reporting period, and 7 convictions were achieved and fines and jail-time issued for harboring of persons, procurement of sexual exploitation, hiring out of domestic work and forced labor, and procurement of minors for sexual exploitation. As of October 2024, the government reported 69 convictions for trafficking in persons, 27 convictions related to violence against persons, and 11,530 children rescued.

† The government had other policies that may have included the goal of eliminating or preventing child labor.

‡ Program is funded by the Government of Nigeria.

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