Child-trafficking scandal rocks Warri orphanage : Welfare officials fingered
“I am not operating illegally. Before I started operating this home, inspections were carried out and approval given to me formally with a letter dated November 14th, 1997 and signed by J.A. Omeife the then Director of Social Welfare on behalf of the Commissioner.” Joshua Omorere, the president of the non-governmental organization (NGO), Nigerian […]
“I am not operating illegally. Before I started operating this home, inspections were carried out and approval given to me formally with a letter dated November 14th, 1997 and signed by J.A. Omeife the then Director of Social Welfare on behalf of the Commissioner.”
Joshua Omorere, the president of the non-governmental organization (NGO), Nigerian Child Welfare Foundation, assisted with raising money for the surgery of one of Madam Rita’s wards, baby Andrew in India. Omorere explained that he traveled with the baby in 2008 to India after being treated at the Warri Central Hospital and being referred to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a hole in his heart and was referred to Apollo Hospital, India. Omorere said: “After we returned from India, Andrew was taken back to Our Lady of Mercy Orphanage Home from where Esther picked him up and gave him out for adoption.”
Although Mr. Omorere stated clearly that before the crisis began to brew he had no clue as to the fact that Andrew had been adopted, he admits that he failed to make reports regarding the medical trip he undertook with Andrew to India. “I made a mistake by not reporting or giving any sort of account to the Child Development Department of the Ministry upon returning from the trip.”
Omorere narrated the genesis of the child trafficking saga. “It was not until last year when a report was made that children were being sold that I inquired from Madam Ritaabout Andrew and she said Esther had come to take the child for adoption. While that was being resolved another colleague of Esther’s, Mr. Okoro Jemine, on the 5th of May this year, brought a three year-old girl to the Home with no police extract which is unusual in a legal case. While waiting for explanations, two weeks later Okoro brought two other boys to the Home and questions started brewing as to the source of the children he was bringing, especially because he is not a staff of the department which should handle such issues and also because he did not have authority to take children from Warri South Local Government Area where he worked to Uwvie Local Government Area where the Home is situated.”
He added: “The Child Development Officer in Warri South, Mr. Solomon, was immediately alerted and Okoro queried. While waiting for the explanation on July 28th he went to Madam Rita and took the girl from the Home. Madam Rita immediately raised alarm and called my attention. I called Okoro and he threatened me to keep off the matter. I reported to the police who gave a warrant for his arrest. By the time they went in search of him he had disappeared. In all the confusion I received a call from Esther asking me to stay out of it and that she would ask Okoro to apologise to me if he had offended me. She also said that Okoro had returned the child to her relatives.
“We let the matter rest for a bit until after Okoro performed his marriage ceremonies before he was arrested on October 6th. It was then that he confessed that Esther had arranged for a woman in Orhunworun (a community close to Warri) to buy the girl. Luckily, we traced the woman and recovered the child.”
A warrant for Esther’s arrest was said to be issued and while in police custody she confessed that she had also sold baby Andrew to a certain woman who no longer lived in Warri and had indulged in ten previous similar trades involving orphaned children in Warri.
“In fairness to Mrs. Oki,” said Omorere, “she was not aware that Esther was involved in such a trade and neither were the buyers as the woman who bought the baby girl expressed and was quite surprised by the letter stating that the Home be closed down. Esther made them believe that she was processing adoption documents and they had no way of knowing that what she was doing was illegal as she gave them seemingly correct papers. All she did was to get affidavits from court houses which she presented to the new parents as against a properly signed document by the director of child development on behalf of the commissioner of the Ministry Of Women Affairs who then releases the child for adoption.”
For about a week, efforts to reach Ugbojevwu were futile and her phone switched off. Eventually, calls went through to her. She initially seemed interested in speaking on the accusations before her but seemed to decide against it after a while and ended the call. When our reporter called a second time, a lady sounding like her took the call but said Ugbojevwu was unavailable.
Mr. Okoro Jemine who could not also be reached initially was telephoned yesterday but declined comments over the phone.
An insider who spoke anonymously informed that there are legal procedures which are an integral part of the adoption process. The source explained that, “Prospective parents come forward with an application stating their desires. This application will then be forwarded to the department in charge and this will be followed by an interview of such parents in Asaba. If the interview is successful, they are issued a scouting letter which permits them to go round the fourteen orphanage homes in the state presenting photocopies of this permission.
“When they find a child, they notify the child development officer who if the child is out of his jurisdiction alerts the officer in the concerned region for details concerning the child. Investigations are carried out about the family of the child and their consent sought regarding the adoption. In a case where there is no family it goes to the ministry where a request for temporary placement (usually for three months) is made and an order for the release of the child is made. The child is released in the presence of the officer and at the orphanage home documents are signed by all parties involved.
“After three months the parties go to court for final enrolment of the child in the new home with the parents. Depending on the court’s ruling, visits are paid to such homes once or twice a year by a welfare officer to ascertain that the child is in good hands.
“But this was not the case with Esther Ugbojevhwu who is a level seven officer of the Ministry of Women Affairs. She capitalized on the old age of Madam Oki taking children and out of her home at will with the aid of level four officer Mr. Okoro Jemine who said the highest he got out of it was twenty thousand naira. Esther Ugbojevhwu and Mr. Okoro Jemine both work in the Social Welfare Department of the Delta state Ministry of Women Affairs which has no business in child adoption matters.”
The source also confirmed Omorere’s statement about the fact that Ugbojevhwu forged court documents which she gave to the prospective buyers. Ugbojevhwu has been given until the end of the month to bring baby Andrew back.
For children of the home like Phillip Ogbula, 35, who came into Madam Ruth’s care as a day-old baby and has known no other home or mother but hers it is a really sad event. “It was at age ten that I realised that she was not my biological mum. But neither my siblings nor I have felt cheated in life or felt that we have been deprived of anything because she has been mother, teacher, inspiration and a trusted friend to all of us. There are more than five of us who came into her care from the very first day of our lives and are university graduates. At her age this is not what she should be going through after over forty years of expressing love freely to the multitude of children that she has.”
In spite of all the goings-on and publicity the issue has provoked, the Police Public Relations Officer in Warri ASP Charles Amka stated clearly that no orphanage home in the area was closed down. The Delta State Commissioner of Police, Yajukbu Alkali when contacted said he was at a meeting and would call back. Meanwhile, the accusations and counter-accusations continue to pile up, as the fate of the orphans’ well-being hangs in the balance.