Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, Minister of Women Affairs, has proposed the use of children in factories at the Anambra Investment Summit convened to market the investment opportunities domiciled in the southeastern state on Thursday.

Kennedy-Ohanenye was at the event held at the International Convention Centre in her capacity as Minister of Women Affairs.

In her speech, she invited investors and the government to create industries to create opportunities for “our children to start producing things just like they do in China.”

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“I am pleading for us to look into more production of these things in our society, especially the necessities like matchboxes, toothpicks, cotton buds, sanitary pads and stuff like that,” said the minister.

To do that, she advocated reduction of work and school days and make Fridays free for school children to work factory jobs. She added that it would help the country to combat social vices.

“If we can think about using Fridays as free days for our children to start producing things just like they do in China. In China, even young kids get involved in production,” she said.

“I was able to speak to the president of Traders Union Association and they are ready to partner on this where, when they produce these things, they carry it and market it within our country. We will not only create jobs, we will not only stop the issue of giving handouts to Nigerians when they are supposed to be eating fat.

“We will equally curtail drug intake of our children, because they will be more occupied, they will school and they will equally do some production to start earning on time.

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“This is not only that, it will equally curtail insecurity in our society. Let us help ourselves. If we are hoping on government to do it all, it will never happen.”

The minister’s call for toothpick and cotton bud factories to absorb children as workers is coming amidst the concerns over the worrisome level of child labour in Nigeria.

Recently, a report survey found that 43 percent of Nigerian children from age 5 to 11 are subjected to the worst forms of child labour, including mining, construction works, commercial sexual exploitation and armed conflict.