Residents of Abuja have decried illegal ways people adopt children in the country and called on government to regulate agencies involved in child adoption process.
Reports gathered by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in different interviews revealed that most people adopt illegally thereby subjecting the adopted children to all forms of abuse.
Some of the residents also claimed that adopted children sometimes became victims of trafficking and rituals.
They, therefore, emphasised the need for government to establish a supervisory agency that would be charged with the responsibilities of day to day monitoring of adoption homes.
Mrs Ronke Ogunyombo, a school teacher said “child adoption is good if it is for genuine purpose and well regulated”.
Ogunyombo, a nursing mother said she had wanted to adopt a child after six years of marriage without pregnancy, before she was blessed by God.
“There is absolutely nothing wrong in child adoption if conducted in the right way and with the right motive.
“Couples for instance who are married for years without issue could decide to adopt in order to fulfill their desire to have children.
“Some aged couples who desired company of children may decide to adopt when their children are all grown up and are living apart.
“Child adoption helps to give the child a sense of belonging and ensures a better future for the child depending on the economic status of the adoptee.
“However, the processes must be properly regulated because it is possible that the couple who adopt might abuse the child.
“There is the temptation to use the adopted child for evil practices like child-trafficking, street trading and rituals.
“To check these excesses, government should monitor the activities of all the orphanages and motherless baby homes,” she said.
Mrs Racheal Ayuba, a nurse in a private hospital in Kubwa, said child adoption has become a common trend but often abused because of lack of regulation.
She said from her experiences as a nurse, she got reports of many single mothers going outside Abuja to adopt children.
“The trend now is that many adoptees go to remote villages in other regions of the country where they operate illegal homes.
“They pay as much as N500,000 to N1m for a child without leaving any contact with the homes.
“These illegal homes are interested in the money and not in the welfare of the children.
“They are not concern(ed) about what becomes of the children provided the adoptees pay them good money,” she said.
Ayuba said government should take pro-active measures to regulate child adoption and stamp out all illegal homes scattered across the country.
She stressed that active involvement of government would reduce child abuse practices and promote sanity in the process.
Also speaking, Mrs Abisetu Agada, a Director at Ministry of Women Affairs, Kogi State, said that child adoption was being abused in the country.
“Adoption is a legal process of taking a baby from the orphanage and training the child as your own.
“Adoption is a good thing, but you find a lot of people treating adopted children badly simply because they did not give birth to them.
“I will urge that we adopt the western practice whereby they have care service system which provides for regular monitor of adopted children,” she said.
On his part, Mr. Kelvin Sunday, a trader, told NAN that couples adopt children to pave way for the women to conceive.
“The process of child adoption is not easy though it brings luck to the family to have a child of their own, provided the adopted child is well treated.
“However, people may be scared to adopt because of the particular trait the adopted child might have,’’ he said
Mrs Patience Ashibuogwu, a civil servant and mother of two, also said that adoption is not a bad thing.
“Children are beautiful creature. It is just so unfortunate that some people can not have them. But even at that, they should not be denied that joy of having one
“We have children who are orphans, and have no one to take care of them.
“If we have people who want to raise these ones as their own, they should be given the opportunity to do so.
“But I must stress that adoption should be done through the right channel and process to avoid abuses,” she said. (NAN)