Key points

• Odii proposes a skills acquisition center in each of Ebonyi’s 13 LGAs, each accommodating about 3,000 people, for a total of roughly 39,000 trainees.
• Training would cover carpentry, POP installation, tailoring, animal husbandry, fishery and other vocational skills.
• He links child labor to poverty and promises scholarships, better schools and investment in agriculture, healthcare and job creation to keep children in school.

Ifeanyi Odii, the Peoples Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in Ebonyi State, has pledged to end the practice of families sending children away to work as domestic helpers or street hawkers if he wins the 2027 election.

Odii laid out the plan on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, positioning youth empowerment, education and skills development as the backbone of his proposed administration.

According to him, poverty and unemployment are the main forces pushing households to send children out of their communities to earn money.

“I will end child hawking, house help culture in Ebonyi State, if elected,” he said.

A center in every local government

The centerpiece of his answer is vocational training. Odii said his government would build skills acquisition centers across all 13 local government areas of the state, with each facility able to accommodate about 3,000 people. As a result, the program would reach roughly 39,000 residents.

Training would span carpentry, POP installation, tailoring, animal husbandry, fishery and other trades.

The aim, he said, is practical instruction that leads either to a job or to self-employment, so that young people can earn a living close to home rather than leaving to work in other people’s houses.

“We’ll be reeducating our people,” he said, describing the centers as a way to reset how families think about opportunity.

Education and jobs as the longer fix

Odii tied the child labor problem to two deeper failures: household poverty and poor access to education. Consequently, he promised to make schooling a top priority, including scholarships and improved learning environments, so children can stay in class instead of being pushed into economic activity early.

In addition, he pledged investment in agriculture, healthcare and job creation as part of a wider effort to lift household incomes.

Ebonyi, he argued, has significant agricultural and mineral resources that remain underdeveloped. If those sectors grow, families gain the means to keep their children at home.

“We must create opportunities at home,” he said.

The pitch places Odii among a growing number of 2027 candidates framing their campaigns around social outcomes rather than infrastructure alone.

Whether the numbers hold up will depend on funding details he has yet to release, including the cost of building and running 13 centers of that size.

Meanwhile, the candidate has not said how the plan would be enforced against families or employers, focusing instead on removing the economic pressure that drives the practice.