Culled from Daily Sun
Thirty-two pregnant teenagers at
various stages of their pregnancies have been arrested in Umuzue community in
Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area of Abia State by men of the Nigerian
Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC).
They were arrested together with the
owner of the home, Mrs Nnenna Mba and two male workers on April 2, 2013
following a tip-off. The girls , whose ages range between 10 and 20 were
believed to have run to the home after getting pregnant without the knowledge
of their parents or were impregnated at the home by visiting males employed by
the proprietor of the home.
Speaking to Daily Sun at the
office of the NSCDC, the Commandant, Mr Ben E. Dikuro said that his men stormed
the home and arrested the teenage girls and the proprietor on Tuesday.
“We gathered from a tip-off that girls
who get pregnant are lured to the home with rosy promises of compensation when
they deliver. Also young girls who needed money are also convinced to get
pregnant and deliver the child and be paid some amount of money.
The young girls are also allowed to
sleep with some of the men they brought to the home. Anyone who delivers a girl
is paid N80,000 and the child is sold by the owner of the home for N400,000.
But if a girl delivered a boy, she was paid N100,000.
While the boy would be sold to those
that need them for N450,000. “Our investigation revealed that she has been
operating the home since 2009 but was able to register it in 2012. The aim of
the registration was to run the outlet as a home for the less privileged, but
she was hiding under that cover to perpetrate atrocities. All the girls we
caught there are at various stages of pregnancy.
We have gone to the Ministry of Women
Affairs and discovered that her registration is different from what she is
doing.” The Public Relations Officer of NSCDC, Mr Victor Ogbonna advised
parents to take good care of their female children just like the males.
“You can imagine, this type of girls
that should be responsible to their parents being lured into the business of
baby making just for money.
The cause of all these is poverty and
lack of orientation. You see children going into illegalities and evil to
survive. The parents of these girls should know that as the boys are important,
so are the girls and should be able to give them attention. My advice to the
young girls is that they should keep away from bad friends.
It is all about societal influence.
Everybody wants to make it big , not minding how it is made. Almost all of them
are pregnant, cant you see?” the PRO said. The proprietor of the home, Mrs.
Mba, who spoke to Daily Sun argued that she was not doing any illegal thing.
She said her ordeal was the handiwork
of her enemies who were not happy that she was running a legal outfit. “I
registered this home with Ministry of Women Affairs in December 2012, the Women
Affairs came and inspected the place and certified it fit. The area we are
attending to the girls is the social aspect of our job.
I have never sold any baby since we
started. Many of them were conscious before coming to us, they were not
hoodwinked into coming and they didn’t sign any document for us as agreement.
If any of them delivers and they want
to give out their child, it will be a matter between them and the authorities
that are in charge of adoption. We only act as intermediaries.
They are all conscious. I did not force
them, I am a qualified nurse.”
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