Lifestyle, Women
ACTIONAID Nigeria (AAN), an NGO, has pledged to strengthen its work with relevant stakeholders to address the problem of infanticide in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its environs.
Mrs. Ene Obi, the Country Director, AAN made the pledge in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Thursday.
Obi said that it was worrisome to hear that about 57 communities around the territory were still practicing the killing of twins in the 21st Century, a development that should have been abolished.
She said that efforts were however made to debunk the cultural beliefs of those who still practice infanticide.
“For ActionAid, there are a couple of things we focus on, one that touches the heart. We have about 17 projects right now and one particular project has to do with infanticide
“And that is the killing of twins and also energizing the community and looking at the alternative ways of behavior because once you have something that deals with the culture you have to be careful.
“We know that the killing of twins was a practice in some parts of Nigeria.
“But little did we know that sitting in the FCT here and around us, twins, triplets, quadruplets, Albinos, down syndrome children, and those who lose their mothers at childbirth are considered evil and are killed.
“In some communities, there are twin altars where they bury these children and this happens in a couple of communities about 57 around the FCT.’’
The country director said that a center had been created with support from the European Union to help cater for some of the children rescued from the communities.
Obi said that many of the children had been reintegrated back into their families and communities.
“We are working with them gradually because when it is a cultural practice, you need to be able to debunk those ideas.
“So we are working with them and working with the European Union because the children are about 165.
“A set of triplets who are about 4 years old have been reunited with their families because the essence is not to take the children away from the family.
“One of the good news is that some of the children went back to their homes and the community members actually came to see whether the children are still alive or not,’’ she said. (NAN)
Feb. 10, 2021 @ 16:20 GMT –
Tags: ActionAid pledges to strengthen collaborations to address infanticide in FCT environs
