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Urgent and effective action needed for the eradication slavery and child labour in Ghana
GENEVA – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Gulnara Shahinian, urged the Government of Ghana to consolidate the important steps it has taken with strong and sustainable implementation strategies with measurable impact on groups at risk as well as victims of slavery.
“Further progress on eradicating the various forms of modern day slavery and exploitation in Ghana can only be achieved by addressing the root causes sustaining these practices, including poverty, regional disparities and the lack of access to livelihoods, education and health,” the expert said. A human rights-based approach is essential to do this.
“During my visit, I have seen that child labour, including in its worst forms continues to thrive in some communities. Children, some as young as 4 years of age, continue to be sent to work in fishing communities where they do dangerous work, are deprived of an education and are not paid,” she noted.
Ms. Shahinian hailed the steps taken by some of these fishing communities to ban child labour in their villages and to extend their child protection work to neighboring areas. “More community awareness raising and livelihoods are needed,” she explained. Children also work in hazardous and slavery conditions in the artisan mining sector, and in the cocoa sector – though the latter has seen significant improvements.
“I had the opportunity to speak to girls engaged in survival and commercial sex in Accra and Kayayes in the market who sleep in the open in appalling conditions with very young children and are regularly exposed to rape, exploitation and abuse, the the Special Rapporteur said. “These women and girls, as well as the children who accompany them are vulnerable to become victims of trafficking, sexual exploitation, forced and bonded labour and other forms of slavery. In addition to poverty, some are fleeing from early and forced marriages.”
Domestic servitude, often involving young children is another form of contemporary slavery which is believed to be rampant and must be studied and addressed. Equally there is a need to understand better the dynamics of forced labour and other forms of slavery along the person’s life cycle and pay greater attention to the situation of adults, on which there is too little effort and information.
The independent expert noted that many of these situations of exploitation increasingly occur in the context of the large waves of internal migration from poor rural areas to urban centres. “It is critical to invest in areas of origin and to invest heavily in the management of urban development, so that poor informal settlements or slums do not become sourcing centres for all forms of slave labour and trafficking for criminals,” Ms. Shahinian stressed.
The government of Ghana has taken the important step of recognizing the existence of slavery, of adopting legislative frameworks, and putting in place a number of institutional mechanisms and programs, such as in the area of child labor, and human trafficking. They have adopted the National Plan of Action (NPA) for the Elimination of the Worst forms of Child Labor, which aims to eradicate such practices by 2015, and ratified a number of international agreements, including key human right and ILO Conventions.
“I commend the authorities for these efforts and for establishing these frameworks,” the Special Rapporteur said. “I now urge the Government, in partnership with other stakeholders, to ensure that these frameworks become genuine tools for change.”
The expert warned that “budgetary allocations from the national budget to relevant ministries, departments and programs are inadequate, as is data collection, which is necessary to inform actions and understand the magnitude of the problem.”
In her view, greater and urgent efforts are necessary to ensure that social protection programs are rationalized, purposeful, and sustainable. These must be able to effectively identify and target the most vulnerable, be sufficiently resourced, and informed by a truly participatory and bottom-up approach.
Other challenges include coordination between relevant government structures and programs, the need for greater inclusion of civil society and affected communities at every stage, and genuine decentralisation which is more representational, able to reach all communities and supported with sufficient resources.
“The importance of education was stressed by everyone I encountered on this visit,” Ms. Shahinian noted. “Communities explained how critical education was to keep children out of child labour, while mothers working in terrible condition in the streets or in markets explained their objective was to earn money to send their children to school. Effective access to basic services such as primary education, adequate housing and health continue to be a challenge for many, despite favorable legislation.”
“Using a human rights-based approach can empower all stakeholders, including Government, and affected communities to address these rights as well as other socio-economic rights from the point of view of good governance and accountability,” she underscored.
During her nine-day mission, The Special Rapporteur visited various fishing communities in the lake Volta region, a rehabilitation centre, outdoor markets and other areas in Accra. She met with Government representatives, law enforcement agencies, victims, traditional community chiefs, teachers, members of community child protection committees, and international and civil society organisations.
Ms. Shahinian will present the findings of the visit to the Human Rights Council in September 2014.
A former Permanent Secretary of the Federal Civil Service Commission, Goke Adeboroye, has questioned how an alleged fake presidential agency was able to gain access to government facilities, budgetary provisions and office space without being detected.
Adeboroye spoke on Channels Television’s Inside Sources following the discovery of the alleged Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
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The ICPC had said the purported agency had no legal basis and operated with forged appointment letters and other official documents.
The commission also said its alleged Director-General, Adeniyi Matthew, was never appointed by the Federal Government.
The anti-corruption agency further disclosed that its investigation into the PFIPC led to the discovery of the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office, which it alleged was operating within the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation without proper authorisation.
Reacting to the development, Adeboroye described the situation as a major failure of the government’s bureaucratic system.
“The exposure of that fake presidential agency is a major lapse to say that somebody can actually come into the system, get in on the budget, get offices, and all of that,” he said.
The former permanent secretary identified weaknesses in the bureaucratic structures supporting key offices in the Presidency, including the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, the Office of the Chief of Staff to the President and the Office of the Head of the Civil Service.
According to him, the bureaucracy in these offices should be strong enough to support the President’s policies while also ensuring that fraudulent or unlawful directives do not gain effect.
“The bureaucracy in those offices are not strong enough to be able to help the President drive the vision at the speed and with the efficiency that he wants,” Adeboroye said.
He also stressed the importance of having professional and experienced civil servants who can scrutinise directives issued by political office holders.
Adeboroye said civil servants should be able to recognise suspicious communications purportedly coming from the Presidency because they are familiar with the official channels through which presidential approvals are transmitted.
“Whether the person brings fake or whatever, you as the civil servant should be trained to be able to detect what should be a genuine communication from the State House. You work in that system,” he said.
He explained that presidential approvals usually pass through established channels involving senior government officials.
“When the President approves anything, he always minutes to about three people. He goes to the Chief of Staff, he goes to SGF, and if he has something to do with civil service, the Head of Service will have it.”
Adeboroye recalled an incident from his time as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Interior involving a former governor who claimed to have presidential approval for a diplomatic passport.
He said the then Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Ude, cross-checked the purported approval before taking action and subsequently sought clarification on whether the former governor, who was no longer in office, should receive the diplomatic passport.
“That’s somebody using the experience of the system to ensure that you are not outplayed,” he said.
The former permanent secretary said similar verification could have been carried out in the alleged fake agency case through a simple phone call to the relevant government offices.
“So we would have expected that on a simple phone call, when I was working in the office of Ekaite, Secretary of Government, I could pick a phone, call any minister, call this, it’s just a phone call from the office of whoever to say, Chief of Staff, is this true? And that would have actually corrected it,” he said.
Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding the National Brands Development and Made in Nigeria Special Project Office has continued.
The chairman of the project office, Musa Aliyu, had alleged that the office was allocated space within the OSGF premises without presidential authorisation.
However, the National Coordinator and Executive Director of the project office, George Nwabueze, denied the allegation, insisting that the office is a project office under the OSGF and has existed for 16 years.
Nwabueze also produced an appointment letter purportedly issued by the OSGF, conveying approval of his appointment as National Coordinator/Executive Director of the Made in Nigeria Project Office.
The conflicting claims have continued to raise questions about the authorisation and status of the project office and the alleged involvement of public officials in its operations.
The Labour Party has commended former President Goodluck Jonathan for conceding defeat in the 2015 presidential election, saying his decision demonstrated that political power was not worth the blood of Nigerians.
The National Chairman of the Labour Party, Senator Nenadi Usman, made the statement on Tuesday in Bauchi State while speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the 2026 Goodluck Jonathan Foundation Democracy Dialogue.
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The event, organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, was themed, “Beyond Elections: Can Political Parties and the Judiciary Save African Democracy?”
Usman said Nigeria’s democracy survived the tensions surrounding the 2015 election because Jonathan chose to put the national interest above his desire to remain in office.
She said, “Nigeria’s democracy survived the doomsday predictions of bookmakers in 2015 because of President Jonathan’s concession of defeat in that year’s election, even before the final votes were tallied.”
According to her, Jonathan’s approach to politics was exceptional, particularly because he had consistently maintained that neither his election nor remaining in power was worth the blood of any Nigerian.
Usman stated, “Such a principled approach to politics had never before been witnessed on the Nigerian political horizon. Jonathan, from the inception of his presidency, consistently maintained that neither his election nor remaining in power was worth the blood of any Nigerian.”
She added that Jonathan demonstrated the sincerity of his position when the 2015 election tested his commitment to the principle.
The Labour Party chairman urged politicians preparing for the 2027 general elections to emulate Jonathan’s non-violent approach to politics, respect democratic rules and place national interest above personal ambitions.
She also questioned whether politicians seeking the presidency in 2027 would be prepared to make similar sacrifices for national unity, particularly amid inflammatory rhetoric from some political camps.
Usman further recalled the saying attributed to Warren Buffett that someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.
She argued that Nigerians are able to practise democracy today partly because Jonathan made sacrifices at a critical moment.
On the Labour Party’s preparations for the 2027 elections, Usman described the party as the most structured opposition political party in Nigeria.
She said the Labour Party’s relationship with the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress had strengthened its political structure nationwide.
Usman claimed that the party remained the only opposition party with a realistic presence across Nigeria’s 186,000 polling units.
She said, “With the combined strength of the NLC and the TUC, both of which are constitutional members of the party, no Nigerian political party is better positioned to show the APC government the exit door than the Labour Party.”
The democracy dialogue attracted several political leaders and dignitaries, including former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan, former Vice-President Namadi Sambo, Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed, former Senate President Anyim Pius Anyim and Labour Party’s 2023 presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
Others included former Plateau State Governor Jonah Jang, APC Deputy National Chairman, South, Dr Ben Nwoye, and the Emir of Bauchi, Dr Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu.
The dialogue provided a platform for discussions on strengthening democratic institutions, the role of political parties and the judiciary, and preventing democratic reversals across Africa.
Nigeria has recorded another major achievement on the international stage as the Mountain Top Chorale of Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) emerged champion of the 2026 World Choir Games in Helsingborg, Sweden.
The Nigerian choir clinched the gold medal in the Spiritual Category (C14), scoring an impressive 87.38 points in the competition conducted by Oluwasegun Okedunmola.
The feat was celebrated by the General Overseer of MFM, Daniel Olukoya, who described the victory as a major moment of pride for Nigeria and the ministry.
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In a Monday Facebook post, Olukoya wrote, “A CHAMPION’S SOUND! GOLD FOR MOUNTAIN TOP CHORALE!”
According to him, the choir secured two major honours at the 2026 competition, including the gold medal in the Spiritual Category and the overall championship in the Champions Competition.
He said the achievement went beyond music, describing it as a demonstration of “discipline, excellence, dedication, teamwork and the power of using our gifts to glorify God.”
Olukoya also commended the choristers, conductor, leadership of the choir and everyone whose sacrifices and commitment contributed to the success.
The World Choir Games, organised by Interkultur, is regarded as the world’s largest international choir competition. The 2026 edition is being held in Helsingborg from August 6 to 16.
The host organisation said about 8,500 singers from more than 40 countries are participating, with more than 160 choirs taking part in the competition, concerts and other activities.
The 2026 edition is also the first time the World Choir Games are being held in Sweden.
Mountain Top Chorale’s victory places the Nigerian choir among the top performers at the global choral event and further highlights Nigeria’s presence in international gospel and choral music.
Celebrating the achievement, Olukoya said, “From Nigeria to the world, Mountain Top Chorale has raised the banner high.”
He concluded his message by congratulating the choir and giving glory to God for the historic achievement.
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