By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Nigeria’s Minister of Women’s Affairs has called for a reduction in number of days students spend in schools, and has advocated that Fridays should be made a school free day to enable schoolchildren work in factories.
At Anambra Investment Summit on Thursday, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, pushed for opportunity for children of school age to spend some hours working in factories manufacturing toothpicks, sanitary pads, cotton buds and others.
The products made by the children would be sold in local markets, creating a new source of income for families, the Minister emphasized.
“It’s best to look into more production of some of these things in our society, especially the necessities like the matchbox, the toothpick, the cotton balls, the sanitary pads, and stuff like that,” Kennedy-Ohanenye said.
“Let us introduce urban development in the schools. If we can think about using Fridays as a free day for our children to start producing things just like they do in China, even young kids can get involved in production.”
According to the Minister, she has engaged the president of the Traders Union Association, who is willing to partner with the government to make this a reality.
She posited that the initiative would create jobs and assist in reducing the number of handouts the government has to give to Nigerians and help reduce drug intake and improve security.
“I was able to speak to the president of the Traders Union Association, and they are ready to partner on this where, when they produce these things, they carry them into a market within our country. This will not only create jobs, but we will also stop the issue of giving handouts to Nigerians when they’re supposed to be eating fat.
“We will equally cartel the drug intake of our children because there will be more occupied at school, and we will lead to some productions to start any money on time. It will equally cartel the insecurity in our society. Let us help ourselves. If we are hoping for the government to do it all, it will never happen.”
Analysts have said this could create room for a possible exploitation, child labour and serious impact on the quality of education.
