The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) says that in 2022, 617,503 individuals were in forced labour in their current jobs.

The NBS disclosed this in its Nigeria Forced Labour Survey Report 2022, released on Thursday.

The bureau said forced labour, as described in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), referred to “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”

The report said 5.2 out of every 1,000 individuals were in forced labour in their current job in 2022.

It said 36.2 per cent of individuals in forced labour in their current job were found in the agricultural sector.

“While 36.9 per cent of individuals in forced labour in their current job are found in the service sector, other than domestic work,” said the report.

The report revealed that 451,300 males and 166,203 females were in forced labour, while 270,545 were in urban areas and 346,958 were in rural areas.

In terms of age group, 191,418 people were in forced labour in the 18 to 29 years old age group and 317,052 people in the 30 to 49 years old age group. In the 50-year-old age group, 99,391 people were forced to work, the report said.

The NBS said overall, the prevalence of forced labour was similar across education levels for all groups except for individuals with a primary education level.

It said, “This result shows that even highly educated individuals could be at risk of falling into situations of forced labour. The prevalence of forced labour is highest among individuals with primary education, for which 7.2 of every thousand individuals are in a situation of forced labour.

“This may be partially explained by the fact that individuals with only a primary education are not as well protected by their skills as the medium and highly educated individuals.”

The report revealed that married adults were slightly more likely to be in forced labour than unmarried individuals.

With forced labour prevalence at 5.8 per every thousand individuals among married adults as compared to 4.1 per every thousand individuals among unmarried adults, the report stressed.

It said out of individuals in forced labour in their current job, the most common form of coercion was withholding payment of wages or benefits which was experienced by 35.2 per cent of individuals.

The report said among individuals in forced labour in their current job, the most common circumstance of involuntariness experienced was being made to work with no freedom or limited freedom to terminate their work contract at 29.7 per cent.

This was followed by being made to stay at their job longer than agreed to without consent, which was experienced by 26.8 per cent of individuals in forced labour in their current jobs.

(NAN)