Some 68 communities in Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory are said to be killing twins, children who grow upper teeth first, children whose mothers die during delivery or when they are still sucking.
Also killed in infancy are albinos and children born with Down Syndrome or any other deformity.
According to The Guardian report, children who fall under the categories are considered evil and put to death.
The children, according to the report “are either poisoned or offered as sacrifices to their gods” while children who lose their mothers during child birth are buried with the mothers.
However, there is hope for such ‘disadvantaged’ children in The Vines Heritage Home located in Kuje Area Council of the FCT.
The operations leader of the outfit, Mr. Stephen Olusola, said the home offers shelter to such children, adding it has been receiving some tips that infanticide still takes place in some communities.
Even though some community members denied it, some affected mothers are still secretly handing over their children to the home to avoid them being poisoned to death, the report stated.
Olusola while speaking at the handing over of a five-year-old boy to his father said: “If such practice was not going on, why would a mother willingly give us her child?”
The child was said to have lost his mother at birth and was rescued and sent to the home where he lived until reunification with the father.
However, Olusola said the incidence of infanticide had greatly improved because of increased sensitisation.
“And with the support of ActionAid and the European Union, the children are no longer termed as evil and their parents now come to visit them,” he added.
Olusola said one of the major challenges of the home is that some of the children are usually poisoned and are in the throes of death before they are brought to the centre.
Such situation, he said, saddles the centre with arduous task of battling to save the infants’ lives.
Olusola also said feeding the infants constitutes a huge task noting that 98 per cent of the children brought to the home when they are not yet weaned.
“So, they are challenged with the provision of infant formula among others to ensure that they grow well,” he added.
He said the home offers shelter to 177 children including 20 sets of twins.
He also disclosed that 17 children have successfully been reunited with their families.
Lead of ActionAid’s Mobilising Action Towards the Abolition of Infanticide in the FCT (MATA), Mr. Ubong Tommy, said the non-governmental organisation and the European Union had since 2019 pooled funds together to raise awareness about the practice of infanticide in the FCT.
They also put in place structures in the community to ensure that the children are successfully united with their families.
He said they carry out routine monitoring of children when they return to the communities to ensure their welfare is properly addressed.
