By Sarah NEGEDU
The Federal Capital Territory Administration has sealed off an orphanage in the Karonmajigi area of Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, for their involvement in an alleged child trafficking ring.
The facility, Priesthood Orphanage, was sealed after 23 children, aged between one to 14 years, were reportedly trafficked from Plateau state to the orphanage were they were rescued.
Mandate Secretary of the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat, Mrs Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, who briefed the media on the incident, said that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had authorised the re-profiling and recertification of all orphanages operating in the nation’s capital.
She explained that when she saw the state of things in Social Development, she briefed the minister who promptly approved the re profiling and rescaling of all homes to ascertain their state and to make sure only homes that are capable and recognised by law keep children in the FCT.
On the trafficked Plateau children, Benjamins – Laniyi explained that due to the crises in Plateau State over the years, some unscrupulous individuals took the opportunity to traffic children in the pretext of helping them.
She said that the 23 children were moved into Abuja at different times unnoticed and were taken to Priesthood Orphanage in Karon Majigi and later abandoned with another poster.
“There is no question, yesterday, with immediate effect, that ‘home’ was sealed, shut down. We have the name of the proprietor of the orphanage home, but we are not naming names now for obvious reasons. When the entire material investigation is concluded, there will be an official gazetted presentation of the facts, the findings and the delivery of this intervention we’ve started here today.
“NAPTIP, as we speak is already on it. Using this as an example, one of the first things I have done is to get approval for the recertification of orphanage homes in Abuja. The Minister has approved that there will be a full thorough reprofiling of anything that has to do with orphanage and recertification status of all orphanages in Abuja”, she said.
She noted that the Women’s Secretariat was already working with the office of the Commissioner of Women Affairs of Plateau State, to reunite the children with their families, some of whom she said had been at the uncertified orphanage for five years, since 2019.
“We are working with the Plateau state government to reunite the children that I had earlier mentioned by name and by age, with their families in Plateau state. This is a transition arrangement”, she said.
The Plateau State Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Caroline Dafur, narrated that the proprietors of the orphanage home abandoned the children at the orphanage, under the care of one Pastor Abraham, in a terrible condition of hunger.
She disclosed that three of the children had escaped and were discovered by officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who reported the case to the NAPTIP and took the children to the Human Rights Radio, who then notified the Plateau State government and the FCT Women’s Secretariat.
“We came in yesterday and on reaching here, we were told that they went to church. We kept going from one church to another, looking for them until we found them in a Deeper Life Church, where we were able to pick them up, and we went to the home. And we saw the place, in fact, it is not supposed to be called a home.
“The place is just so unkempt. I wonder how the children were sleeping in the small room. Nine girls were sleeping in a very small room with just two mattresses. And then for the boys, they were in a small room too, with two mattresses just on the floor. And I mean, it’s so pathetic the way human beings treat human beings in this country.
She stated the displeasure of the Plateau state government, while appreciating the Mandate Secretary for the assistance in evacuating the children, and relocating them to the Karu Childrens’ Home.
