About six million Nigerian children are working and they don’t attend school at all while one million children are forced to drop out of school due to poverty or because of the demand to contribute to family income.

The Chief Executive Officer of Hope Worldwide International, a Lagos-based non-governmental organisation, Mr Olaosebikan Clement, who disclosed this in Lagos on Thursday at a press conference on the upcoming Great Hope Walk 2011, also stated that Nigeria had one of the largest burdens of Orphans and Vulnerable Children(OVC) in the world.

“The 2008 Situation Assessment and Analysis (SAA) on OVC revealed that 17.5 million (24.5per cent) of Nigerian children are OVC. The survey further showed that 7.3 million were orphaned through various causes,” he added.

According to him, major causes of orphanage in Nigeria have been identified to include AIDS, road accidents, maternal mortality and ethno-religious conflicts while a large number of children are vulnerable due to poverty, negative cultural practices and gender inequality.

Speaking on the 10km Great Hope Walk billed for December 3 in Lagos, Clement said the objective of the walk was to create awareness on the plight of orphans and vulnerable children in the society.

He said it was also to increase awareness and galvanise action towards the case of the abused, the trafficked and children on the street.
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