Activists and other stakeholders in Gombe State have deplored the engagement of school-age girls in farms during rainy seasons.
The engagement of girls in farm labour is becoming more prevalent in many villages in the state, including the state capital under a practice known as “Barema”.
Barema is the act of hiring people to perform different tasks in farms including clearing, weeding, ploughing, planting and harvesting for payment of wages.
Our correspondent observed that though farming is usually carried out by men, in Gombe, girls are more engaged than boys because it is believed that their charges are lower.
Leadership Sunday also observed that girls troop out on the streets in several communities jostling to be hired and they are usually conveyed to farms in trucks.
However, activists and stakeholders in the state have decried the practice on the ground that it subjects the girls to several hazards including exploitation, hard labour and hindering their enrolment and attendance in schools.
One of the activists who spoke to Leadership Sunday, Barrister Martha Daniel who is the founder of a child rights organisation called ‘Advocacy For Children’s Right Initiative’ said the main reason for the practice is illiteracy among parents in particular and poverty in general.
“It affects the enrolment and retention of the girl-child in school as the poverty in the family compels parents to use their children as bread winners. Those who are in schools are withdrawn to work on people’s farms and serve as bread winners, while those who are yet to enroll are denied access to education because the resources to fund their education are scarce,” she said.
The activist alleged that the practice also subjects the girls to sexual abuse as farmers who engage them are not known to them and some are not even from their communities.
“It is important to also emphasise that these girls are being abused sexually and are induced through the use of substances to make them work without getting tired,” he said.
Another respondent, Malam Idris Lawanti, said farmers give the girls sums of money for their labour ranging from N300, N500 to N1,000 depending on the time spent on the farms.
He said the practice is more prevalent in places such as Lafiyawo, Akko, Malam Jamo, Lawanti, Kwami, Bojude, Gadam, Kumo, Maraban gona and Maraban Tukulma.
Other areas according to the respondents are Gombe local government and Ashaka Jalingo in Funakaye local government.
Our correspondent reports that in the state capital, Gombe, girls troop to Tashar Shongo, Tumfure area and near the NTA station where unknown farmers pick them to any destination for work sometimes from the morning to late afternoon or evening.
A school principal, Muhammed Musa Muhammed, said the practice affects girls’ participation in schools, as they go for it during school hours.
According to him, the practice will impede women’s education in the state because as the girls grow up without being educated, they would also train their children on the same practice, thereby promoting illiteracy.
He said during the period of planting or harvesting, girls’ attendance in schools reduces drastically, especially in villages, adding that in a school with a population of 50 to 100 girls, only about six girls would be seen.
State coordinator of ‘Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment’ (AGILE) project, Dr Amina Haruna Abdul, also said the practice is one of the factors hindering them from being in schools. She said the project would empower about 10, 000 girls in the state by teaching them skills to enable them stop hard labour. The state commissioner for education, Dr Aisha Maigari, said as part of measures to stop the menace of child labour in the state, the child protection law was passed into law.
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