THE NEXUS BETWEEN POVERTY AND CHILD LABOUR IN IYAERO COMMUNITY, EDO STATE

This research looked at the relationship between poverty and child labour in Iyaero Community, Benin City, Edo State. The study objectives were to determine the influence of poverty on child labour and to identify the roles that social workers may play in poverty reduction and child labour eradication in the community. The study was conducted using a descriptive survey research approach. Respondents were drawn from elementary and secondary schools in Iyaero Community, Benin City, and only children who had been engaged in child labour were chosen for the study using the purposive sampling method. The data were acquired by personally administering 185 copies of the questionnaire, of which 175 had valid replies. The research investigation also employed frequency distribution, mean, standard deviation, t-test statistics, basic regression analysis, and tables as primary statistical tools for data analysis, as well as hypothesis testing. The research study revealed that poverty has a strong connection with child labour in Iyaero community; that impoverishment has an enormous detrimental effect on children in Iyaero; that child labour exists in the community; and finally, that social service professionals can play an important role in poverty and child labour reduction in Iyaero Community. More importantly, the work suggests that the government create integrated poverty reduction schemes that include educational aspects for disadvantaged families. These programmes should provide direct support to families living in poverty while emphasizing the importance of education for children and that the government implements targeted social protection measures, such as conditional cash transfer programmes, food assistance, and healthcare subsidies, to alleviate immediate economic hardships faced by families living in poverty.