Cases Of Baby Factories Worry Rights Activists

The rising incidence of homes where underage girls are kept and put in the family way for commercial purposes came to fore at this year’s Children’s day when a network of human rights activists rose up to condemn the crime.

The network which includes the Africans Unite Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA)-UK, the Environmental RightsAction/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), Media Concern Initiative for Women & Children (MediaCon), Healing Hearts Foundation, Spaces for Change, Project Alert on Violence Against Women, the Charles and Doosurh Abaagu Foundation, and the Women Environmental Programme (WEP) in a joint statement made available to LEADERSHIP, called on the federal government and stakeholders to curb the menace popularly referred to as ‘baby factories’ boom.

“On the occasion of this year’s International Children’s Day, a group of Nigerian and international non-governmental organisations, children and human rights organisations have condemned the rising commercialization of new born babies in parts of the country.

“This year’s Children’s Day celebration calls for sober reflection because more than ever before, our beloved country is again being made the laughing stock of the whole world,” the group said.

The statement cited the recent clamp-down on a home in Imo state where 22 pregnant teenagers were rescued, while waiting to sell their babies each for between N50, 000 and N350, 000 by police operatives in Abia State and the more recent case in Lagos where an unborn baby’s sale had even been negotiated, as well as the recent discovery of a village near the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, where twin babies are killed at birth.

“In the light of these, is there any reason why anyone would doubt the rating by the Save the Children, an international organisation that Nigeria is one of the most endangered countries to be born?” the statement queried.

The groups commended the Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha for closing down all illegal motherless and adoption homes in his state and called on the governor of Abia State, other affected states, the National Agency for the Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), and other relevant agencies to take urgent steps to put a halt to the crime.