CONCERNED by the mode of operation of some of the orphanage homes in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has announced plan to carry out a comprehensive audit of the homes.
Coordinator of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council (AMMC), Mr Umar Shuaibu, speaking in Abuja, said this was to ensure that the orphanages operated in accordance with the provisions of Child Rights Act.
He expunged the insinuations in some quarters that the authorities of FCTA were out to forcefully outlaw the operation of orphanage homes in FCT.
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Shuaibu, however, insisted that the establishment of an orphanage home in a modern city like Abuja must follow guidelines of the master plan, saying further that the FCT, as model for the 36 states of the Federation, “takes the implementation of the Child Rights Act as paramount, critical and must be strictly adhered to.”
He said, “we are going to make sure that henceforth, we will audit all orphanages in Abuja, to ensure that everyone conforms to the rules and regulations governing the practice of this activity.”
While reacting to claims in a section of the media that the FCTA had failed to provide succour to orphans of the recently demolished Divine Wounds of Jesus Christ Orphanage in Kubwa, the acting Secretary, FCT Social Development Secretariat, Hajiya Safiya Umar, said that the orphanage contravened all rules and regulations setting up orphanages in a designated area.
Umar, who admitted some administrative lapses in the monitoring activities of private orphanages in Abuja, also assured residents of the preparedness of the relevant agencies to block all loopholes in the operation of orphanage.
She said, “even in special cases, the Act does not allow orphanages to keep up to 200 children. In worst case scenario, it should be about 20 to 30 in a private orphanage.
“The government can keep orphanage of 50, 60, 70 children but up to 100 is not acceptable by Child Rights Act. This is because we have Child Rights Committee instituted here in Abuja,” he concluded
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