CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Child labour and trafficking are essentially understood as encompassing monetary or non monetary activities which are mentally physically, morally and socially hazardous for children below 15 years of age (UNICEF, 2005). Child labour is any work that harms children or keeps them from attending school (Public Education Project 2010, p.96). “Around the world, the growing gaps between the rich and the poor in recent years have forced millions of young children out of school and into work; the source added. The International Labour Organization (2006, p.106) also defined child labour as “any work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to physical and mental development. In its most extreme forms, child labour involves children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illness and or / left to fend for themselves on the street often at a very early age.
Child trafficking, on the other hand, is the illegal movement of children, typically for the purpose of forced labour or sexual exploitation. According to wikipedia.com, child trafficking is defined as “the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring and / or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation”, though the statistics regarding the magnitude of child trafficking are difficult to obtain. Children can be sold either in kind or cash for the purpose of forced labour, sexual abuse or for armed forces a including militancy.
Understanding of child trafficking, child labour and child- marriage with respect to the media coverage of the menace in Enugu is enormous and effective. The public have acknowledged the fact that any form of child abuse is mimical and should always support mass media campaigns against maltreatment of children in the name of child labour, marriage and trafficking. Asogwa (2008,p.187) argued that child marriage in Nusukka, Abakaliki Isiala Mba Ano, Bende and Isioche (case study of South Eastern Zone) is no longer business as usual”. He observed that parents now take time to train their children/ wards in school instead of sending them for marriage, apprentice and servitudes. He attributed the stride to the media effort in the fight against child abuse in Igbo land. The fact remains that these areas sampled by the researcher remained the epicenter of one of child abuse. They were carefully selected to represent the five states of the south east.
The public perceive media coverage of child abuse as a serous issue through the defunct Ebonyi Broadcasting Service (ESBS) radio between 2000 and 2005 (Nwambe 2009, p.9). He argued that “people of Abakaliki had benefited from the sonorous programme anchored by the late Ogbonnaya Abba, adding that “children who were exposed to hazardous child labour were saved from servitudes, and converted them into education”. Nwamba also stressed that the public saw the programme as an effective one that deviated children in the society into being responsible and conscious of their rights in the society.
During pre-independence era, child labour, trafficking and marriage was a lucrative trend among the Igbos, particularly in Enugu, the eastern heartland. According to Igbokwe (2000, p.38), this was the most booming business in the eastern handwork and business trip on settlement basis. The notion that children by so doing shall become rich contributed in child abuse. He also argued that victims of such abuse were denied basic education. Sambe (2010, p.70) also stressed that child abuse flourished during pre- independence period because the media lacked proper coverage of child abuse as a campaign strategy
The problem with residents of Enugu urban in terms of child labour is that among NTA, ETV, Radio Nigeria, Sunrise FM, Dream FM and Solid FM, no one has ever designed a powerful programme specifically on child labour, trafficking and marriage and a means to sensitize the child or to empower the victims. In a study conducted by Ugwu Julius (2011, p.38), it was found that the rate of child marriage, child trafficking and child labour is drastically reducing in among children in Enugu urban, not due to effective media coverage but as a result of education attained by parents and guardians in the area. The scholar also found that the residents of Enugu metropolis are more educated than those living in Onitsha where there is high cases of child abuse. He offered an estimate of 68% who live in the city as parents obtained at least SSCE thereby developing xenophobia towards any form of child abuse. Not withstanding he observed that the media such as The Sun and This Daydeserved an encomium for its coverage of child abuse using its pages
The act of keeping house maid among residents still looms inspite of mass media campaign against child abuse. Okoye and Tanyi (2010, p.27) stressed that many children work under exploitative conditions for their masters/ladies with many being denied the right to proper education. They observed that some children under exploitative condition in Enugu are seen hawking groundnuts, banana, moi-moi, etc. for hours, in the bid to make gains for their unsatisfied guardians. The fact that the public is not fully aware of adverse effect of child labour is noted by the researcher among Enugu residents