Badagry baby factory

However, we believe that this atrocity persists because earlier suspects seem to have gotten away with blue murder, literally. There are laws that are broken through such criminal activities but it seems that most of the arrested suspects have not been given the serious punishments that can serve as a deterrent to others.

There are socio-cultural norms that push individuals into indulging in such illegalities as trying to procure children by all means. There is a cultural belief that having children is an achievement and the reason for marriages. For couples who are unable to bear their own biological children, there are a lot of social isolation, mockery and bullying that, in an effort to escape all these, some individuals now seek nefarious ways to acquire kids and nurture them as their own.

Read Also: World Malaria Day: First Lady urges stronger prevention efforts

Sometimes the quest for male children pushes some women into going to acquire baby boys, often without the knowledge of their spouses.

In a fatalistic society like ours, some dubious native doctors have convinced some equally greedy individuals that rituals performed with babies could give them riches or some supernatural powers. Sadly, there are allegations that even some so-called men of God seek such powers that they believe would make their ministries flourish.

So, while there might be the dubious alibi that these criminal operators of baby factories claim to be helping childless couples, there are instances when their claims are false and mercantile and, in any case, there are legitimate adoption processes in every state that those who desire to adopt children can pursue.

The baby factory syndicate thrives in the country also because of the failure of many government agencies to diligently do their jobs. Local government agencies always claim to be closest to the grassroots but little

attention is paid to the communities. Most crimes, including baby factories, do not exist in Mars. Most of the factories are located in highly populated areas of cities. How do these factories exist for so long without detection?

In this case, the suspects moved from Ikorodu area of Lagos to  Badagry, meaning they must have operated without detection to save enough money to move to a bigger accommodation.

The National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) as a government agency ought to explain how the adverts from these suspects are on social media without their media department taking that as a cue to track them before NSCDC swooped on the facility.

The Ministry of Youth Development and Women Affairs ought to be aware of such adverts that convinced those ladies to go give up their children.

The Nigerian state ought to realise that each child is a valuable asset with potentials, and the future depends on how the children are raised.

Obviously there are often more deaths than are accounted for in these illegal facilities because those pregnant ladies rarely get the required medical attention due to the secrecy surrounding their operations. There are no ante-natal visits and professional gynaecologists/obstetricians are not often involved. There are hardly any records of births, deaths and beneficiaries of the sales.

While we blame the suspects, they thrive because the services are needed. The fact that some of the women allegedly walk into their office with older children and or pregnancies they feel they can’t cater for on delivery must awaken our governments to the socio-economic issues involved.

In the developed countries, parents are compelled by law to pay for child support once they make babies and have reasons not to live together. Most of the vulnerable ladies are thrown under the bus by men who got them pregnant either in or out of marriage, before a divorce or separation. It takes two to make a baby. It is high time there is a law compelling men especially to pay child support.

While we understand the outrage about this issue, governments must do more to reduce or totally eradicate this crime against humanity through very proactive policy choices. Each child must be totally protected through strict implementation of existing child protection laws.

Reproductive health must be taken more seriously and parenting negligence must be punished as deterrence. Impregnating a woman must not be made to look like a masculine trophy. Child support laws must be implemented in ways that the burden of parenting must be a shared responsibility.

In this instance now, a thorough investigation must be carried out. The suspects are not the only guilty parties. The women who signed up to sell their babies, whether already born or still an embryo, must be prosecuted as adults if it is established that they were not raped/abducted as minors. Consenting to sell your baby as an adult is a crime under the NAPTIP Act.

Beyond this case, however, government agencies must sit up and this and other cases must be properly handled with the right punishment meted out to the arrested culprits as a deterrent to others.