15/09/2026
Today, the Cece Yara Child Advocacy Centre hosted a powerful Breakfast Dialogue focused on strengthening community responsibility in protecting child domestic workers.
These children, often engaged in cooking, cleaning, childcare, and errands, are vulnerable to exploitation behind closed doors.
Many face excessive working hours, denial of education, restricted movement, withheld wages, humiliation, violence, and even sexual abuse.
The dialogue brought together participants drawn from government agencies, civil society organisations, and domestic worker recruitment agencies, reflecting a broad coalition committed to tackling child labour.
Discussions highlighted findings from the Nigeria Child Labour Survey 2022, which reported that 24.67 million children aged 5–17 are engaged in child labour, with 14.39 million involved in hazardous work and 16.3% suffering workplace injuries. Research conducted in Lagos and Edo by Freedom Fund and NORC revealed that 37.1% of child domestic workers work more than 30 hours weekly, one in eleven have experienced physical or sexual violence, and nearly 89% work under conditions that violate Nigerian law.
Moving beyond awareness, the conversation asked: What should community members do when they know or suspect a child is being exploited? The dialogue concluded with two practical commitments:
First, the creation of a trusted reporting pathway connecting residents, schools, faith institutions, community leaders, Cece Yara, social welfare services, and law enforcement agencies.
Second, the introduction of a Community Protection Pledge, encouraging households to reject underage recruitment, keep every child in school, prevent violence and excessive work, and report suspected exploitation.
The Cece Yara Child Advocacy Centre calls on all communities to speak out, report, and protect. Every child deserves safety, dignity, and education — and together, we can end child domestic exploitation.
