Ebere Nwoji
AIICO Insurance Plc is partnering ActionAid Nigeria in its ongoing fight against
Infanticide in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Infanticide, is the crime of a mother killing her child for reasons ranging from multiple births in form of twins or triplets, growing upper teeth first, among others, in line with the culture of some communities.
In support of the fight, AIICO Insurance had donated N3.1 million to the organisation and has gone further to dedicate N100 out of every auto and travelers insurance policy it sold for the course.
AIICO, at a press briefing in Lagos to announce its partnership with the organisation, presented a cheque of N1, 474,800 which accrued from all the policies on auto and travelers insurance it sold in the first half of this year to the company.
ActionAid Nigeria, which is a local chapter of the global ActionAid federation, and stands for promoting human rights and eradicating poverty, said in 2018, it discovered through investigations that children of multiple births (twins, triplets) were considered taboos and killed in some communities in the nation’s capital.
The Country Director of ActionAid in Nigeria Ene Obi, while narrating to the media how her organisation got into infanticide project said it discovered that natives of Bassa-komo, Gbariyamma and Ganagana tribes in Abuja, still believed that if a mother dies from childbirth or while nursing a baby, the baby is evil and must be buried (alive) with the deceased mother.
She also said through investigations, she discovered that in some other communities, children with albinism, born with down syndrome, birth defects and even those who grow their upper teeth first are victims of these barbaric practice.
“Infanticide in the FCT remains a practice shrouded in secrecy with very few people speaking openly. The process of killing these babies involves different methods such as poisoning (with a mixture of deadly plants and herbs), starvation and suffocation,” she added.
“The support provided by ActionAid Nigeria with funding support from the European Union includes: construction of a new dormitory for the 168 children and their carers; construction of a block of three classrooms for children below five years; setting up of vegetable garden, poultry and fishery for nutritional support and provision of dairies for infants and life skills and skills acquisitions training for older children,” she explained.
According to her, ActionAid Nigeria, is also working with the communities, the National Human Rights Commission, local government areas and relevant government agencies to end this barbaric practice.
