11th April, 2013
News coming out of Abia State these days calls for concern and urgent intervention. The unpleasant news about child trafficking and babies being sold for money has reached such a horrendous stage that all men and women of good will must rise up and condemn the evil practice.
This is the time for those who love the state to stand up and be counted against the current inhuman trade going on in the state. The exchange of humans for money calls for a soul searching among all Abians, and indeed everywhere in the country where humans have been reduced to the level of animals that can be bought and sold.
In Abia State of today, it appears human life is no longer sacred and can be treated like a piece of commodity that can be bought and sold in the open markets of Umuahia, the state capital.
The evil merchants of human trafficking in Abia State have taken control of the soul of the state and reduced it to nothingness. The sanctity of human life no longer holds true in Abia because life can be bought with naira in the so-called God’s Own State.
We are not saying that it is only in Abia that this kind of inhuman practice is going on, but it is becoming more rampant in the state. Just last week, officials of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC, uncovered a baby-making centre whose owner claimed was a registered motherless babies’ home. At the home, more than 32 pregnant girls whose ages range between 10 and 20 were discovered waiting to deliver babies which will be sold to those seeking them.
The arrested teenagers confessed to NSCDC officials that after they were delivered of their babies, the boys will be sold for N450,000 while the girls will be sold for N400,000 by the proprietors of the home. The mothers are given N100,000 for boys delivered and N80,000 for girls.
Investigations revealed that the majority of the girls who mistakenly got pregnant were lured to the home with rosy promises of compensation when they deliver. Also, young girls who needed money are also convinced to get pregnant and deliver the child and be paid some amount of money.
And to draw more attention to the evil exchange, the state Commissioner of Police on Monday raised an alarm on the inhuman practice of baby auctioning in the state when he called a press conference to announce the arrest of a woman who connived with a doctor to sell her son for N300,000. The police boss also disclosed the arrest of a 20-year old father of one who sold his only son for N350,000 in order to procure a Greek visa.
The police also arrested a doctor who assisted a mother to sell her baby boy for N300,000. Three other pregnant women were found in his hospital waiting to be delivered of their babies. The police boss listed many other cases of sale of babies in the state.
Just when did we degenerate to this abysmal state of trading in humans? This dangerous trend certainly calls for soul searching by all.
The government of Abia State must take a look at this evil practice and stop it. Human life is sacred and should not be reduced to that of a lower animal which can be bought and sold.
We implore Governor Theodore Orji to embark on a massive enlightenment campaign to stop this evil practice going in his state. The mass media must be enlisted in this campaign to achieve maximum effect.
The government of Abia State and all those who love the state must rise up and stop this degrading trade. Why do we have to sell our fellow humans in order to make money for a living? This certainly is unacceptable and must be stopped. Human life is sacred; it should not be treated like a commodity.