Nigerian Children and Adult Work

Nigeria Children And Adult Work Culture - The Good Old Days

by samson 

(Lagos)

Nigeria is a country of hardworking people. We value hard work. We train our children to work hard at school and at whatever they do so that they become the best they can be.

The core occupation in Nigerian societies in the good old days were farming, fishing, and hunting. And both adults and children engaged in these three societal activities back in the good old days.

Work And Children In The Pre-Colonial Nigerian Society

Men and women worked hard in their farms to make food available for the family. Farming was the source of food for the family. And families had access to foodstuff they did not grow or have through a simple system of trade by barter because modern currencies were not available in Nigeria at the time.

When a woman was pregnant, she worked hard in the farm with her husband the pregnancy notwithstanding. And she kept at it until it was impossible to continue.

After she puts to birth, she spends a couple of months nursing her baby. Soon thereafter, she is back in the farm with her husband with the baby strapped her back while she worked or placed under a shade (or in the farm hut) to shield the baby from the heat of the scorching sun.

As the youngster grows up, he or she accompanies her parents to the farm, weeding, tilling the soil, planting, and harvesting. Before long, the youngster becomes proficient in the farming business. As the Nigerian child learns the farming business, he/she at the same learns the art of fishing.

Guess what.

By the time the child is in his teens, his father will assign a part of the family land to him for him to start his own farm.

Why start his own farm?

Simple. Soon he will have to get married and start a family of his own. His farm produce will become the source of his income. And the size of the combined income from his farming, fishing and hunting endeavours is what will determine how wealthy his and his...