Nigeria: Why plenty girl pickins dem for Nasarawa no dey go school
As early as 5:30 am for morning, work don begin for Karu abattoir wey dey few kilometres from Abuja, Nigeria capital city.
Young girls wey suppose dey school dey do manual job for abattoir to help dia family Butchers dey kill cows while women, wey wear different uniforms, dey supply water for di abattoir to wash meat. But dis no be dia only work, dem go pack meat for inside basin come carry am for dia head to deliver to customers wey come buy meat from di butchers. Pickins dem dey follow do dis job and 15-year old Lami Mustapha na one of dem. Lami na pickin of Nasarawa state and when she small, her dream na to become doctor but as e be, she neva go school. She tell BBC Pidgin Dooshima Abu say her mama no carry her go school and she no know why. When her dream jam rock, na so she carry her leg go find work for di Karu abattoir to make small chop money. She talk say, "Some days I dey make N500 wey I dey use to help my mama". Abattoir workers talk say di load dey pain body but dem no get option Dis Lami tori na di same with plenty of di young women wey dey work inside dis abattoir. Dia tori dey sad because e full with dreams wey turn nightmare on top no education and achievement wey make sense. Di oga of Lami talk say na 10 years old wen she herself start to work for di abattoir. She bin wan make quick money for school fees, but as days turn to years her hope to become lawyer vanish. "E don reach fifteen years wey I dey work here and I dey use di money take care of my family." Even though abattoir work dey break person back, many of di women wey dey do am dey collect around N500, N1,500 or N2,000 naira per day. According to one Unicef report, about 15 million pickins dem for Nigeria dey work to make money instead of to dey go school. Di report claim say many of dem dey sell for street, dey beg, dey shine shoe or wash car for big cities. Di women dey waka far place before dem see water fetch for di abattoir Di report still talk say child labour dey happen well-well for Northern Nigeria, and for state like Nasarawa, hunger and poverty dey contribute wella. Patrick Oguejiofor ,wey be education sabi pesin, say because of poverty, most mama and papa dem dey allow dia girl pickin to work and help dia family. E come add say all states must adopt di Child Rights Act and punish mamas dem wey no dey gree allow dia pickins go school. Di Nasarawa state governor talk-talk person, Musa Elayo, talk say school dey free for im state but mamas no dey like put dia pickins for school. Elayo still talk say, "Dem prefer to send dem to work and help support di family".