The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has warned Nigerians against the use of underage housemaids, saying such practice is an offense before the law.
The agency’s Director of Legal and Prosecution, Mr. Hassan Tahir, gave the warning while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Monday.
He advised against the backdrop of employers of domestic workers, who sometimes have challenges with their employees to the extent of inflicting injuries on the workers.
Tahir said that Section 23 of the Trafficking in Persons Act (TIP) seriously condemned the employment of a child as a domestic worker, saying such is an offense before the law.
The director quoted Section 23 of the TIP Act as saying, “Any person who willfully employs, requests, recruits, transports, harbours, receives, or hires out a child as a domestic worker commits an offense and is liable to a conviction of imprisonment for a minimum term of 6 months and not exceeding 7 years.”.
He, however, advised that if anyone was willing to have house help, be it underage or not, such a person must ensure that they were treated fairly.
According to him, the housekeeper must be sleeping in the same room where the kids of the master are sleeping, and the domestic worker must also be attending the same school as the kids of the master.
“The domestic worker must attend the same school as your children, eat the same food as them, and wear the same clothes as them. He or she must be treated equally with your children.
“There could be a situation whereby you employ a child and at the same time inflict injury on him or her; if you want to violate their rights, please don’t do that, and if certainly you do, NAPTIP will do the needful.
“NAPTIP has been sensitising the general public, creating awareness, and educating people about the use of humans for trafficking, particularly on the issue of employing somebody as a domestic worker.
“Employment of an underage as a domestic worker is a serious offense; violators risk going to jail for 7 years; that is the position of the law; that is the position of the Trafficking Act,” he said.
He pleaded with states yet to domesticate the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act to do so, stressing that there were more states yet to domesticate the act.
According to him, domestication of the VAPP Act by all states in Nigeria will make the country have a common front, a common ground, and fight domestic violence in the country.
He called on Nigerians experiencing domestic violence to report to NAPTIP, adding that the door of the agency was always open. (NAN)
