The Ebonyi State Government has received 28 trafficked children repatriated from neighbouring Anambra State after they were found engaged in child labour, including hawking animal skins and other menial jobs instead of attending school.
The Anambra State Government said the children were identified during routine surveillance by local vigilantes, who discovered that they were not enrolled in school despite the availability of free and compulsory education in Ebonyi State.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development in Ebonyi State, Barrister Felicia Nwankpuma, received the children at the Children Remand Home in Ugwuachara, Ebonyi Local Government Area.
Nwankpuma disclosed that the repatriation followed a notification from her counterpart in Anambra State about the presence of trafficked Ebonyi children.
“I received a call from the Commissioner for Women Affairs in Anambra State informing me that some Ebonyi children had been trafficked to the state. We immediately swung into action, and today the 28 children are back. Our priority is to rehabilitate them before reuniting them with their respective families because they came from different homes,” she said.
The commissioner blamed parents who allowed their children to be subjected to child labour despite the Ebonyi State Government’s policy of free and compulsory education under Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru.
She also commended the Anambra State Government for alerting Ebonyi authorities and facilitating the children’s return.
According to her, 24 of the children are from Ikwo Local Government Area, while four are from Ezza South Local Government Area.
She said the chairmen of the two affected local government areas would take custody of the children after their rehabilitation to facilitate their reintegration with their families.
