Council Management Donates Items To Abandoned Baby

The Caretaker Management Committee of the Ilesa East Local Government Council Area of the State of Osun has donated baby materials for the care of one abandoned baby boy at Ogburu Area of Ilesa.

According to a statement by the Information Officer of the council, Kazeem Opatunji, the Executive Secretary, Mrs. Adeoye Olusola made the donation to the Supervisor of Abandoned Babies Unit of Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa, while receiving the abandoned baby boy.

Represented by two caretaker management committee, Olufemi Olayinka and Olayinka Olayide, Adeoye regretted that “abandoned babies cases are becoming more rampant in the society”, saying the situation has reached a worrying state, as babies are abandoned in riversides, dumpsites, doorstep, bus stop and even mosques among others.

“While some of the babies survive, some die, while some might have been killed before being dumped”.
She noted that the rise in teenage pregnancy was becoming a disturbing trend, saying, young people get pregnant due to unprotected sex

She noted that many young girls have fallen victims of unwanted pregnancies, due to lack of knowledge, saying, if they are knowledgeable and educated, they can, at least, avoid the most unpleasant consequences.

In her own contribution, the Council-Manager Alhaja Muslimot Alabi stated that besides parents, government and society should be proactive on the issues of abandoned babies, while on the other hand, religious organizations have important roles to play, saying,

“If young people are devoted believers, at least they would think twice before engaging in sexual activities”.

“Nowadays, the curiosity of teenagers about sex is gradually increasing due to the pornographic type of drama or movie they see.

These lead to a high number of teenage pregnancies. So, sex education is necessary to be implemented in schools, colleges, and universities to enhancing their knowledge, attitude and behavior about sex and the consequences of having it before marriage.

She added that, “Government should enforce laws that would stop mothers from abandoning their babies by fine or asking them to do other public services as punishment.

“Besides that, government should have a baby hatch system to rescue any abandoned baby instead of allowing parents to just abandon their babies at the roadsides or anywhere else. If government has this kind of system, the parents can donate their babies to the government, so that the government can take care of them and help the baby to find a suitable family.

“Having a baby hatch system, may help to reduce the number of abandoned babies dramatically and the rate of infant mortality will reduce, because the government is taking good care of the baby”.