A facility where women are apparently impregnated and their babies sold off by operators has been sealed off in Ile-Ife by the Osun State Government.
It was deduced that the baby facility was allegedly operating under the guise of an orphanage.
Women, 47 children and an undergraduate were rescued and evacuated from the building.
Commissioner for Women, Children and Social Affairs, Olubukola Olaboopo and other officials of the Ministry and police sealed off the facility identified as Oroyemi Elizabeth Covenant Home and Care Centre.
Olaboopo revealed that the government received reports on the happenings in the building over a period of three to four years suggesting that there were some illegal activities there.
She said despite warnings by the government, the owner persisted, thus breaching the Child Right Laws, and resulting in the closure of the building.
“We have gotten several reports over a period of 3-4 years, reporting how the children in Oroyemi Elizabeth Covenant Home and Care Centre are malnourished and the environment have been very dirty and how some illegal activities have been going on more or less like a baby factory and many more allegations,” she said.
“We rescued 47 children; 10-15 adult girls are there. Those with physical disabilities, an undergraduate of Osun State Polytechnic, Iree, were among those that were rescued. Most of them were crying, they refused to follow us but we were able to take three of them.
“As at this (yesterday) morning, the matron who is taking care of those adults just told me that it seems two of them are breastfeeding. When we interrogated them, they said they have never given birth to a child. So it means that we want to know who got them pregnant when they are not married.
“How come they are pregnant? So there are so many things underneath and the state government is still investigating,” Olubukola said.
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