Kogi govt rescues 29 abandoned babies, prosecutes 15 offenders

The Kogi State Government said it has rescued 39 babies abandoned by their mothers across the state over the past three years.

State’s Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Bolanle, disclosed this on Monday in Lokoja at the opening of a three-day training programme on Child Safety and Protection for social welfare workers across the state, organized by the ministry in collaboration with ActionAid Nigeria and Participation for Behavioural Change Initiative in Development (PIBCID).

The commissioner, while decrying cases of abandonment of children and child abuse in the state, said the training was put together to build the capacity of social welfare workers and staff of the ministry of Women Affairs in responding professionally to issues of safety and protection of children in the state.

She said the ministry had, over the past three years, successfully prosecuted 15 people involved in various cases of child abuse such as early marriage and violent related abuse, adding that other cases were ongoing at the Family Court.

Bolanle explained that babies rescued by the ministry are usually attended to and kept in opharnage homes from where interested members of the public could adopt them after meeting the laid down requirements for child adoption.