Bassey Inyang in Calabar
Arising from the escalating occurrences of the abandonment and neglect of Child-Mothers in the South-south region of Nigeria, states and local governments in the region have been tasked to offer a standard alternative this category of victims of Gender Based Violence (GBV).
The call to action was made at the ‘South-South Regional Partnership Forum on Pathways to Alternative Care for GBV Neglected and Abandoned Child Mothers and Their Offspring’, which held on Thursday in Calabar, Cross River State.
Speaking as a special guest at the Forum organised by the Gender And Development Action (GADA) with support from Ford Foundation, the First Lady of the state, Bishop Dr. Eyoanwan Bassey Otu, said it was high time alternative care was provided to the child-mothers, not just in Cross River State, but in the South-south region.
“We owe it to every abandoned child-mother to do better-now,” Otu said.
She noted that through what can be described as ‘cultural silence’, girls suffer selective punishment for pregnancy, while men or abusers escape accountability, saying these double standards amount to institutional gender-based violence.
The First Lady, who was represented by Senior Special Adviser Administration, Dr. Comfort Oki, said that the availability of a standard guideline for alternative care for the victim would “Provide safe, supportive environments, healthcare, and access to education; Avoid forced reunification with abusive or neglectful families; Ensure abusers face legal consequences; Uphold the rights of the girl child through State agencies; and Penalize abandonment by parents and ensure protective legislation is
enforced.”
While tasking all tiers of government in the South-south region, she said, “Society owes neglected and abandoned child mothers restitution-through awareness, law enforcement, and full implementation of care guidelines.
“Government, civil society, and individuals must work collectively to protect and empower this vulnerable group.”
In her remarks, the founder of GADA, Ambassador Nkoyo Toyo said, the idea of the workshop is to expose participants to other things that can be done for the child-mothers.
“This is the sort of thing we can do for these children. We are saying when you find people who have been exploited and will child; you have a child and she is with a child, two children together, mother is a child, the baby is a child, we need to do something immediately to get them out of poverty, get them out of that situation,” Toyo said.
She said in places like the United States of America, and other developed countries there are well structured arrangements to cater for the needs of people in the categories of child-mothers.
” You can go to foster homes, you can be put in a community home, kinship home, you can be put in the guardianship of people, all kinds of arrangements are there.
” But unfortunately, we have not developed these arrangements here yet.
“There is not system in Nigeria that gives them empowerment so we said the only way you can bring them back is to give them some of these alternative care arrangements, and through that can begin to become products of state care to get the needs that can be provided for them, and hopefully, in the end they can bring them out of the circle of poverty,” Toyo said.
Cross River State Commander of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons, NAPTIP, Dr. Godwin Eyake, said their presence was to make their contribution, more so as they are part of those providing care for the child-mothers who are usually victims of human trafficking.
“Our essence of being here is to listen to what is being discussed, make our own contributions as NAPTIP to see how Alternative care for this class of people in the society can be provided. Because when you are talking of care, we offer protection and assistance to the vulnerable, especially the victims.
“It is not just about doing cases, we assist them to regain their lives so they led a normal life. What we are doing here is a step further in preventing human trafficking in the society,” Eyeka said.
Earlier, in a welcome address presented on behalf of GADA through its Research and Programmes Manager, Mfreke Asigbe, the participants were urged to deliberate on the possible solutions to the problems of child-mother abandonment “with a shared sense of purpose to confront one of the most urgent yet often ignored humanitarian crises facing our region: the neglect, abandonment, and systemic failure experienced by teenage mothers and their children, particularly in the aftermath of gender-based violence.”
She said, Across the South-south, far too many young girls, often survivors of sexual violence, are thrust into motherhood far too early. Stripped of support and often shamed into silence, they are left to navigate trauma, poverty, and isolation. Their children, born into these painful realities, grow up at risk, vulnerable to hunger, exploitation, trafficking, and neglect.”
Asigbe said that the forum was convened to, “build synergy between state-led child protection systems and grassroots efforts like the Community Crisis Management Teams (CCMTs), so that no survivor or child falls through the cracks of disconnected services.
“Promote regulated alternative care, not merely as a rescue measure, but as a transformative tool to break intergenerational cycles of abandonment and GBV, while providing sustainable, community-rooted pathways to healing and protection.
“Mobilise political will and technical collaboration across the South-South region to scale models that work,
starting right here in Cross River State.”
Representatives of government from the six states in the South-south region; Cross River, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Rivers, Delta and Edo also spoke, and made inputs as to what they are doing to tackle the problems of child-mothers neglect and abandonment.
Representatives of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) , the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, CSO, NGO, and government agencies attended the forum also featured at the forum.
