Nigeria Content Online

Akwa Ibom State
government has concluded arrangements to rehabilitate 21 abandoned
children who were taking refuge in two different locations in the Eket
local government area.

The action of
government is in response to media reports on the neglect and abuse of
the children who were forced to flee their homes owing to maltreatment,
and those who were driven away by their families on the allegations
that they were witches.

The commissioner
for information and social re-orientation, Aniekan Umana, in a
statement yesterday in Uyo, warned parents, guardians and other people
in the habit of maltreating children, especially labeling them as
witches to desist from the act.

Maintaining
government’s determination to do everything within its power to ensure
that children were protected and their safety guaranteed, Mr Umana,
said the government would stop at nothing to ensure that defaulters
were prosecuted in line with the provision of the Child Rights and
Protection Law.

Explaining why the
government delayed in relocating the children, Eunice Thomas, the
commissioner for women affairs and social welfare said they received
information on the state of the children, who were they residing at the
premises of the Eket Sports Stadium and the abandoned Qua River Hotel,
late.

She promised to
work expeditiously to re-integrate them with the society, noting that
the ministry has previously been involved in the rehabilitation and
integration of children who were abandoned by their families for
several reasons.

Mrs Thomas said a
temporary accommodation would be provided for the newly discovered
children at the women development centre, pending when the government
would make permanent provisions for them.

She took immediate custody of one of the female children, Jane
Bassey, who was four months pregnant, and mentioned that the children
would be given immediate medical attention, while plans were on ground
to ensure that they were enrolled in schools.