By Adeyinka Adeniran
The National President, Association of Orphanages and Homes Operators in Nigeria (ASOHON), Dr Gabriel Oyediji has called on the Federal Government to establish a department where people who have unwanted pregnancies can be catered for until delivery across the various local governments in the country.
The measure, according to the Founder, Dorcas Home and Compassionate Home, Lagos will not only help tame the menace of unsafe abortion but will also help meet the high demands of adoption by desirous individuals.
Dr. Oyediji gave the charge in an aside interview after a presentation at a one day seminar organiser by the Southwest zone of the Association in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital city, on Wednesday.
The seminar which focused on Advocacy for foster care strengthening in Nigeria was themed: “From Vulnerability to stability: Time to strengthen foster care in Nigeria”.
Dr Oyediji said, “I have been a good advocate of that. We have to choose between adoption and abortion. There is escalation of abortion in private clinics and nobody is talking about it. Early morning in most private clinics, you see young girls queuing up for abortion, and nobody monitors, nobody thinks about that.
“The tragedy is that, the same country where those who are looking for a child to adopt are not allowing you to sleep. Eight out of ten calls I received on daily basis are people crying and begging for babies. Sometimes we get emotional that we cannot help them. Its only a few we can help.
“Now, what I am saying is that there is babies scarcity. And the government is not doing too much about it, or being fast about it. Let them create unwanted pregnancy departments in local government, supervised by a trained social worker. Let them counsel these children.
“Let them see how they can help them get their babies adopted, if they cannot take care of the baby themselves. Instead of wasting the baby under illegal abortion. And I’m saying there’s a cultural difference which Nigerians need to understand.
“In South Western Nigeria and Northern Nigeria, your daughter gets pregnant, it’s not a big deal. It doesn’t make him not your daughter again. It doesn’t cause you to send her away from the house.
“But in the South East, culturally, if a child gets pregnant without marriage, it’s a stigma. They don’t want to see that child again. It’s either she runs away on her own, or they send her away. Because it’s a family stigma. It must not be heard.
“And now, what happens to those, either they want it or not, these children will get pregnant. There’s no magic. Even if they give them a family plan, it will still fail. The question is, what now happens to them when they get pregnant? The family throws them away. Nobody is supporting them, they see them as outcasts. So they have two options.
“Option one is to find money to do abortion. But abortion prices have escalated that they cannot afford it most times. And most of the boys that impregnate them have gone away. They can’t see anybody to hold. So they now need to look for where to hide, and for those who will buy their babies, or take their babies, either for money or for no money, just for them to cover the shame of the family.”
He also called on the government to correct the cultural practice that alienate young girls who get unwanted pregnancy as well as create alternative birth methods like it is done in advanced countries.
“Now, it’s either we also attack these cultural practises that alienate, demarcate, and bastardise a pregnant young girl. Let them find a way through it. Let’s give them orientation and attachment. That’s intervention one.
“Let’s see how we can make advocacy to get the Southern people to accept the child. Because it is not their fault. It’s not the fault of the babies inside of them. And they don’t know which of the babies will become head of state tomorrow. They don’t know the baby that will take care and turn around our world.
“We cannot be shouting adoption crisis, no baby to adopt, and yet abortion is prevailing. The government must be proactive. They must come out.
“There must be alternative birth methods encourage. In UK, in US, in developed countries, they have sperm bank, a single lady can even walk there officially and legally and demand to be pregnant. And when they are pregnant, they have their babies under law.
“They have surrogacy, where a woman is interested in raising children and the husband said no. She can go and sign a document with the fertility hospital. And they enter her. She gives birth, and the owner of the baby takes the baby and pay her for it.
“Every attempt in Nigeria is criminalised. And it’s sorrowful, it’s painful that our elders do not project into tomorrow and are not instinct or they are not quick about it or they are too bureaucratic about it. And that’s why I said let them create unwanted pregnancy departments in local government and supervise by social workers, trained and professional.
“Let them counsel these children. Or let them look for a rehab centre where they can park them. But leaving them to suffer cultural sin and to become no member of the society again or because they get pregnant, they now become bastardised and estranged, alienated and traumatised is not the solution. Cutting off the head is not the solution to headache.”
He added that, there won’t be incidents of baby farming, baby culturing, baby merchandising if the government makes available alternatives for having children, noting that people may not understand the agony and pains those who are willing but unable to make babies go through on a regular babies.
He lamented that the cost of fertility in most fertility hospitals are beyond the reach of poor people despite their yearnings and desire for children.
Speaking on the theme, in her welcome address, the Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Inclusion, Mrs Toyin Balogun said, foster care is a critical component of child welfare system, providing temporary care and support for children who cannot live with their biological parents.
He urge the stakeholders to remain committed to the vision of creating a society where every child has the opportunity to thrive. “Let us work together to ensure that our foster care system is robust, responsive, and equipped to meet the needs of the most vulnerable members of our society. Together, we can make a difference in the lives of these children and help them reach their full potentials”, she added.
In their separate remarks, the Southwest Zonal Coordinator, Dr Rosemary Odigbo and Oyo State Coordinator, Mrs Oluwatosin Ayeola said the seminar was organised to educate members on the imperative of foster care
The described foster care as vital component of social welfare system which provides a safe heaven for children who have been separated from their families due to various reasons.
They lamented the challenges of funding as limiting the activities of orphanage homes, which they said was due to low turnout of donors in recent times. They called on government and corporate organisations to consider orphanage homes for regular support to cushion the hardship of homeowners.
