Children and Youth in the Labour Process in Africa

5. Children Exploitation in the Labour Process: Empirical Exposition from Ile-Ife, Nigeria

5 Children Exploitation in the Labour Process: Empirical Exposition from Ile-Ife, Nigeria Dixon Olu Torimiro Introduction Engaging children in economic activities is a contextual issue. In a typical African setting, for instance, children are normally socialized into work. In this context, it is commonly perceived that through such a process, work culture and tradition are sustained (Odetola and Ademola 1985:57–68; Torimiro and Lawal 1998). This African context of work is being globally contested in recent times, as the children are now engaged in many questionable labour activities, perhaps, as a consequence of the poverty situation engulfing many African families (Grootaert and Patrinos 1999; Kilbride et al. 2000:60). Children are engaged in economic activities for a variety of reasons, the most important being poverty and the induced pressure upon them to escapefrom its trap. For instance, studies have shown that children are often prompted to work by their parents because of the poor household economic situation (Torimiro and Lawal 2001:70–4, 2002). Schooling problems may also contribute to this phenomenon, owing to the inaccessibility to schools or lack of quality education, which may spur parents to engage their children in more ‘profitable’ pursuits. Traditional factors such as rigid cultural and social roles in certain communities may further limit educational attainment and increase child labour (Torimiro et al. 2003:185–92). Further, working children have become objects of extreme exploitation in terms of toiling for long hours for minimal pay. Their work conditions are especially severe, often not providing the stimulation for proper physical and mental development. Many of these children endure a life of pure deprivation. The Ghanaian experience described by Verlet (2002:78–9) led him to the critical use of the dialectics of ‘good-will’ and ‘willingness’ in describing the working conditions of 64 Children and Youth in the Labour Process in Africa the working child vis-à-vis the position of the master, which usually becomes an exploitative relationship. He noted¬thus: The master’s good-will gives him the power to do what he will. His desires, his needs and moods, govern the wages, set the working hours, assign the tasks and influence the quality of the relationship. Willingness means the availability, the obedience expected of a child. Vulnerable children seeking protection and support see themselves bound over to remain meek, ever-present, ever-willing. Their labour power is malleable, flexible. Verlet’s view is germane, most expecially in any poverty-stricken environment where the owners of very limited resources are usually in control of the wills of the less privileged, not to talk of the most vulnerable, the children. It should be noted, however, that in a situation where the ‘good-will’ is being expressed by the child’s parent(s) as the ‘master’, the level of vulnerability is expected to be lower and expression of the child’s ‘willingness’ is invariably expected to be mild. However, the level of exploitative relationship and its perception in different situations are expected to vary, given the socio-cultural and economic peculiarities of different societies. For instance, children may have to be engaged in their parents’ economic activities in some circumstances with¬little or no exploitation in order to generate money for sponsoring their education (Ajayi and Torimiro 2004). Osita (2004) also reported a common practice in Eastern Nigeria, where the male children are apprenticed to traders from an early age, in preference to going to school. According to him: the child usually works for a ‘master’, learning the details of the business over a number of years. When the young man is ready for ‘freedom’, the ‘master’ is obliged to ‘settle’ him by providing capital for him to set up his own business. Globalization and Exploitation of Children in the Labour Process in Africa For better understanding of child exploitation within the African context vis-à-vis globalization, it is imperative to take a cursory look at the extent to which the tides of globalization have contributed to the plight of the children in Africa, especially with regard to child labour. Globalization in this context is perceived as an ideological process based on the perceived persistent disparity and inequality between the North and South, which has dichotomized the state of the global economy into industrialized or agrarian, developed or developing, and rich or poor. The understanding of globalization, according to Aina (2004:3–6), is taken from a perspective that sees the world from the so-called Eurocentric or Economic North position, portraying the world...