The Anambra State Government has sealed Arrow Of God Community Children’s Home located at Nkwelle Ezunaka area of Oyi Local Government over sale of babies, illegal adoptions and human trafficking.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Children and Social Welfare, Hon. Ifeyinwa Obinabo, who disclosed this at a crucial meeting with operators of orphanages in the state, said it was man’s inhumanity to man for a big home like the Arrow Of God Community Children’s Home to indulge in human trafficking and all manner of illegalities with children in the custody of their orphanage.
The Commissioner, who spoke so vehemently in an emotion laden voice, noted that the said orphanage was being investigated from Lagos State for many months before nemesis eventually caught up with the institution, describing the sale of babies and illegal adoptions as evil and wickedness at its peak.
The Commissioner opined that the said Arrow Of God Community Children’s Home worked in partnership with a certain consultant at Nnewi where they jointly perpetrate illegal adoptions and other illegitimate transactions with children, adding that more orphanages were being investigated for such crimes.
Obinabo however emphasized that government would henceforth embark on unscheduled visits to orphanages in the state to ascertain the welfare and well-being of children in the facilities even as she stressed the dire need for the orphanages to obtain as well as renew their certificates of operation to avoid being sanctioned.
Contributing to the discussions, the Commander of NAPTIV in Anambra State, Judith Chukwu, said activities of some unscrupulous orphanages are denting the image of Anambra State as some orphanages exchange babies from other states and take to their orphanages only to sell the babies at N1.5 million or N2 million.
Chukwu expressed concern that some operators go out on the streets to kidnap underaged children and take to their homes and sell them, adding that a lot of cases abound in court bordering on buying and selling of babies, illegal adoptions and so on.
She therefore stressed the urgent need for the operators to eradicate buying and selling of babies amongst themselves and fish out perpetrators for them to go to jail and face the consequences of their wickedness to innocent children.
Also, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Children and Social Welfare Mr. Daniel Ezeanwu maintained that a lot of cases have come from the Embassies to the Ministry and they were all rejected because the Ministry was not involved in the adoption cases brought to it.
Ezeanwu therefore implored the operators to turn a new leaf and endeavour to submit monthly reports of their activities to the Ministry as the Ministry will begin undercover inspections of their facilities.
One of the operators who identified himself as Senior Apostle Tobias Chidiebere Agocha, said Motherless Babies’ Home is not a bank where people harvest money. That those coming into the service now are over-ambitiuos which he said is the remote reason for the selling of babies and trafficking in some Motherless Babies’ Homes.
According to him, it was very unbecoming for a big home like the Arrow Of God Community Children’s Home to get involved in illegal adoptions and selling of babies; that it was a wrong signal to other smaller homes in the state.
He urged the Commissioner to help supervise the operations of orphanages so that they would not deviate from the legal provisions governing operations of orphanages and motherless babies’ homes in the State.
Source: News Probe