The corpse of a newly born baby boy was on Tuesday morning found in a canal in Ikosi Ketu area of Lagos State. Findings by our correspondent revealed that the baby might have been dumped in the drainage by one of the young ladies scavenging at the nearby Olusosun dumping ground, who had fallen a victim of unwanted pregnancy.
Commenting on the incident, a bus driver, who identified himself as Kazeem T-Money, said, “As at late yesterday night, when we left this place, there was nothing like this. The baby was not here; if not, we would have carried him to the police before he died.
But on getting here this morning, around 6am, one of our people called our attention to it and we were scared, because, no matter how small it may be, the baby is a human being.”
When asked if he suspected anyone over the act, Kazeem said,”It cannot be other persons than one of those girls at Olusosun waste dump ground. If you go there, you will see a lot of girls, who have nowhere to keep their heads at night.
Most of them don’t do tangible work than sleeping around with men. And sometimes, the hoodlums in the dump ground also rape some of them.
On several occasions, we have heard different stories here and you wonder such things happen in that place. So, the baby must have been dumped here by one of them, who gave birth to it and felt she didn’t need the baby.”
Another eye witness, a bread hawker, who simply identified herself as Mama Ibeji, however, said that the b a b y might have been deposited in the drainage by one of the prostitutes within the community.
“The baby may be dropped there by one of those prostitutes in this our community. You know that they don’t behave as if they have blood running in their veins. If not, how will someone give birth to her own baby and dump him by the roadside?” she said.
Kazeem earlier told our correspondent that police operatives at Ketu had been contacted on the phone over the incident. But they had yet to arrive at the scene before our correspondent’s departure.
The Lagos State coordinator of Child Protection Network, Mrs. Ngozi Okoro, condemned the manner in which the new born baby was treated by his yet-to-be identified mother.
“It is time that people need to change their mentality about issues like this. If you give birth to a baby and you cannot afford to cater for him, then you can seek help; not that the baby’s life will be taken wickedly. It is a criminal act, which the law frown on everywhere in the world. If such a mother is later identified, she should not be spared at all.”
Okoro also called on government not to relent in its efforts on creating the awareness to curtail such wicked act within the society. Also speaking on the matter, the director of an advocacy centre, Joshabel Touch a Heart Foundation, Mrs. Favour Benson, said mothers who could not afford to cater for their children should take them to an orphanage instead of taking their lives.
While condemning the act, she urged the government and media to campaign against such cruel acts. Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Olarinde Famous-Cole, said his office had yet to be informed about the development.
