GOV. UGWUANYI INAUGURATES COMMITTEE TO CURB ‘BABY FACTORIES’ IN ENUGU

Rt. Hon. Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, Enugu State Governor

Owing to the precipitous increment in the number of illegal maternity homes, otherwise known as baby factories, in Enugu, that merchandize babies, the governor of Enugu State, Rt. Hon. Chief Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, has installed a committee whose sole responsibility is to clamp down on the illegal maternity homes operating in the state.

The best-selling and most sought after online business and political news and articles publishers, Tectono Business Review, got to know this development when Chief Ugwuanyi installed the committee a few days ago in Enugu. The highly loved governor, who charged the team to work out modalities for setting up a trust fund to cater for abandoned children, regretted that, in spite of enabling laws for abandoned children’s welfare, there had been an increase in number of illegal maternity homes.

In Chief Ugwuanyi’s own words: “It is the obligation of society to treat children as special; irrespective of the circumstances of their birth, children are to be loved and cared for until they can fend for themselves. But they are now being sold like commodities and, as a responsible government, we cannot allow this to continue to exist in Enugu state.”

The kindhearted and humane governor underscored the importance of firm compliance to due process in adopting babies to ensure their security and directed the committee to propose effective laws to protect children and young people as well as improve the quality of child justice administration. Enugu State has never had this kind of caring and sympathetic governor since its creation. God bless Gburugburu.

Chief Ugwuanyi, who is the immediate past Chairman of House of Representative Committee on Marine Transport, directed officials of the Ministry of Gender Affairs to monitor and report cases of child abuse and trafficking, and to identify places where illegal adoptions were carried out.

In his response, Archbishop of the Anglican Province, Enugu, Rt. Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuma, who is the committee’s chairman referred to the task as colossal owing to the fact that past administrations had considered the idea but couldn’t muster the will to tackle the menace head-on.

The Archbishop said: “This is an area we have trodden before and are happy that you have pushed for the passage of the Child Rights Act by the State House of Assembly. We had earlier closed down some illegal maternity homes but they sprang up again because the committee could not continue its work.”

Rt. Rev. Dr. Chukwuma revealed that incidence of child trafficking and illegal adoption were increasing rapidly owing to the fact that some security agencies and dishonest official of the State Ministry of Gender Affairs aided the perpetrators. According to him, the committee will partner religious organisations, traditional rulers, security agencies as well as the National Agency for the Prohibition and Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to achieve good results.