Ebonyi PDP gov candidate pledges to end child hawking, house-help culture

Governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Ifeanyichukwuma Odii. Photo: Edward Nnachi

Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate in Ebonyi State, Dr Ifeanyi Odii, has outlined plans to tackle the movement of children from their communities into domestic work, hawking and other forms of child labour if elected governor in 2027.

Odii spoke during an appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, where he presented youth empowerment, education and skills development as key components of his proposed administration.

He said poverty and unemployment were among the factors forcing families to send children away from home to work as domestic helpers or engage in street hawking.

According to him, his administration would address the problem by creating skills-acquisition centres across the state and providing young people with practical training that could lead to employment and self-employment.

“We’ll be reeducating our people. The youths, some of them, we train them in skills acquisition, building skills acquisition centres.”

He said the centres would provide training in areas including carpentry, POP installation, tailoring, animal husbandry, fishery and other vocational skills.

He maintained that the proposed programme would cover all 13 local government areas of Ebonyi State, with each local government having facilities capable of accommodating about 3,000 people.

“That means if we do that, we’re accommodating about 39,000 Ebonyians,” he said.

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Education as a solution

The PDP candidate linked the problem of child labour to the wider challenge of poverty and inadequate access to education.

He promised to make education a major priority, including scholarships and improved learning environments, saying children should be able to remain in school rather than being pushed into economic activities at an early age.

Odii said his administration would also invest in agriculture, healthcare and job creation as part of a broader strategy to reduce household poverty.

He argued that creating a productive local economy would give families greater opportunities to keep their children in school and reduce the pressure to send them away for domestic work.

“We must create opportunities at home. Ebonyi has significant agricultural and mineral resources that could be developed to create jobs and improve household incomes. And I will end child hawking, house help culture in Ebonyi State, if elected.”