In a decisive move, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has taken action against alleged trafficking at the Priesthood Orphanage in Karon Majigi Village, Abuja.
The facility has been sealed following the rescue of 23 children, aged between one and 14, believed to have been trafficked from Plateau.
The Mandate Secretary of the Women Affairs Secretariat under FCTA, Mrs. Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, disclosed this development during a handover ceremony of the children to Mrs. Caroline Dafur, the Commissioner for Women Affairs in Plateau. The handover took place in Abuja on Monday.
Mrs. Benjamins-Laniyi said that ongoing investigations aim to uncover the truth behind the allegations, indicating a serious commitment to addressing the situation.
Benjamins-Laniyi also said that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had authorised the Secretariat to profile and recertify orphanages operating within the nation’s capital.
“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.
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“The Minister has approved that there will be a full thorough reprofiling and recertification of anything that has to do with orphanages in Abuja,” she said.
The mandate secretary said that the Secretariat was already working with Dafur to reunite the children with their families.
She added that some of the children had been in the uncertified orphanage since 2019.
Also speaking, Dafur said that three of the children had escaped due to the poor condition of the orphanage.
She added that the escaped children were discovered by officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps, who reported the case to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons.
She said that the FRSC officials further took the children to the Human Rights Radio, Abuja, who then notified the Plateau Government and the FCT Women Affairs 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.
“From there we went to the orphanage and what we saw in that place it is not supposed to be called an orphanage.
“The place is just so unkempt. Nine girls were sleeping in a very small room with just two mattresses.
“For the boys, they were in a small room too, with two mattresses just on the floor. It is so pathetic the way human beings treat their fellow human beings in this country,” she said.
She thanked the mandate secretary for assisting in evacuating the children to the Karu Children’s Home.
NAN
