Pathos Of Merchandise In Children

A horrifying reality that stares us in the face is the production and sale of babies.  There are many maternity homes in the eastern part of the country that have become factories for the production of babies. These factories and their operators are known but people including the law enforcement agents seem to connive with it.
Pathetically, the ugly trend has crept into Etche and Oyigbo local government areas of River State. This benumbing illegality seems to fester, but the deafening silence on the part of the society and government’s inaction conspire to create a picture of legitimacy. Hence, the criminals engaged in the production and sale of babies go unpunished as they freely buy and sell.
Today babies’ production factories are all over the place and criminals are profiteering through the merchandise.
Before young women with unwanted pregnancies often had to battle with abortion, but now they find solace in some babies’ factory in their neighbourhood. Some traditional birth attendants are also culprits in this vicious trade.
The trend started with artificial insemination, a process by which the sperm and ova of male and female are extracted and fertilized externally and implanted on a host.
The host is usually the womb of a fertile woman. The reason for implantation, according to Mrs. Kelechi Enyie, a nurse attached to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Rivers State, is to manipulate the fertilisation process which had failed to take the natural-cause for effective reproduction.
Mrs. Enyie said implantation had helped spouses to have their own children when the natural way had failed.
She remarked that in situation where a spouse doesn’t have a womb, a surrogate mother could be used.
“There are other underlying factors that can make room for the use of surrogate mother apart from loss of womb” she noted.
Children production business is booming and surrogate mothers are having a bountiful harvest. The prices differ according to sex and number.
A woman, who spoke with The Tide under the cloak of anonymity in Port Harcourt at the weekend, said the babies’ production factories have agents, who bring customers to them. The agents are paid a percentage of the surrogate mother’s fees.
Consequently, the surrogate mothers, agents, doctors and midwives are making a lot of profits. Rapacious greed by doctors midwives and traditional birth attendants involved in the business have often left many surrogate mothers with little to fall back on.
An eyewitness, who spoke to The Tide under the cloak of anonymity, noted that a 14 year old girl, who was impregnated at Oyigbo, was given a paltry N250,OOO when she was delivered as a compensation from the sale of her baby, while the conspi ators got Nl,200,000 from the transaction. Regrettably, she didn’t ask anybody to sell her baby.
It was collusion among her traditional birth attendant and the nurse who acted as agent for the buyer and the doctor, who delivered her of the baby. She was simply ripped off.
The eye witness said the 14-year-old mother never saw her baby nor knew the sex.
While she was still in pains after labour, her baby disappeared. He said the mother later reported the matter to police in her neighbourhood.
According to him, the 14-year- old mother was later compensated at the behest of the police with more cash and asked to dump prosecution.
Unfortunately, the sordid picture is the lot of many young women, who are either impregnated by uncaring lovers or abandoned. However, our concern dwells mostly on the rectitude and legality of the production factories thriving in our city- centres.
The law does not recognize the merchandise in children. It is abominable and unlawful. Besides not all children purchased through this illegal trade grow up to the adult stage either in foster homes or homes of their adopters.
Some of the children end up in the hands of ritualists, who kill them for evil purposes. There is a level of secrecy that attends the illegal business; surrogate mothers must not know the buyers or adopters of their children. There is the apprehension that if they get to know, they may come to lay claim to their children thereafter.
Adoption is legal; in some states of Nigeria, adoption is done through the Ministry of Women Affairs. Application is made to the relevant authority, for example the Director, Child Development, Ministry of Women Affairs & Child development.
An application is also made to the magistrate court by somebody wishing to adopt a baby.
The applicant has to fill a set of forms and submit with copies of birth certificate of the child as well as medical certificate of fitness of the child obtained from government recognised hospital. It also requires a full photograph of the child and a passport size of the adopting parents, letter of employment from the applicant’s employer, affidavit of record/means deposed to by the applicant, and a consent letter from the biological parents or certificate of death of biological parents (where applicable).
But where the adopters are represented by a counsel, it will include a power of attorney donated by adopting parents.
During submission of the forms, the applicants are required to make a statutory payment; the amount to be paid varies from state to state.
Where all the necessary conditions have been fulfilled an application is made to the magistrate court. The hearing of the application may be in an open court or chambers.
If court is satisfied, it makes an award granting custody to the applicant as prayed or otherwise is struck out.
Unfortunately, nobody bothers to go through the whole hog. When women who have aged beyond menopause flaunt newborns, nobody bothers to ask questions.
This illicit trade will continue to kick us in the face unless government and people of Nigeria are determined to call a spade a spade.
Information sharing is important to bring this satanic business to an end and individual passing information to law enforcement agents must be willing to stand as prosecution witnesses.
Therefore, individuals and relevant government agencies must work in concert to end the social malaise.

By: Chidi Enyie