By Justina Auta
The Association of Orphanages and Homes Operators in Nigeria (ASOHON) have called on the Federal Governments to partner with it on data collection of orphans and monitoring of orphanage home care operations in the country.
Mr Gabriel Oyediji, the National President of ASOHON, made the appeal at a training on implementation of Children First Software (CFS) in partnership with an international NGO, Both Ends Believing (BEB), in Abuja.
Oyediji noted the lack of accurate data on the number of homes and orphaned children sheltered in such spaces, which posed a threat in the management, monitoring and operations of orphanages nationwide.
According to him, the country has not updated its database on orphanages and orphaned children since the ones conducted by UNICEF in 2008.
“Not getting us along in policy, decision making and putting us aside is putting the destiny of Nigerian orphaned children aside and it is very unfair to them.
“We are asking the new government to use this and make a new trajectory in orphan management and welfare in the country. And we are ready to support the government to turn around this country,” he said.
Mr Silas Gyang, the Country Manager, BEB Nigeria, said the development of the “Children First Software” application was developed for documentation and transition of orphans a unified one.
“It was developed because we noticed that most of the homes have records of children in files and they keep them with danger of them been lost because of theft, fire hazard or flooding and rodents.
“We brought this to incorporate technology into orphan care and orphan alternative care. So the software gives them a profile of the children and gives room for better monitoring.
“The software is free and we want to collaborate with the government and we are looking forward to government been the custodian of these software.
“That means government can monitor what is happening in the homes and issues of children trafficking, government will know who bought children.
“Also, government can have access to information about every home and even without calling the home, they can access information about every home. It is free and every home care is expected to have this,” he said.
On her part, Mrs Sandra Chikan, the Vice President Northen Region, ASOHON, said survey from 29 children homes were conducted to see effectiveness of the application in streamlining their operations to run efficiently, have structures and system.
“This will ensure that we go in there and actually verify the number of children in orphanages, this will help us collaborate with the government to ascertain number of children in these homes.
“One of the reasons for this is because the image of orphanages in recent times has not been commendable with lots of stories of baby factory, child trafficking homes.
“So we want to deal with that and in partnership with the government to ensure that we are well documented and orphanages that we run are well structured,” she said.
Mrs Grace Adams advised the public to go through states Ministries of Women Affairs for adoption and fostering rather than through illegal or dubious means.
“Every state has their different policies, but the first step is to apply through the Ministry for Women Affairs, and will be referred to orphanages or call directors to know if they have children up for adoption or fostering and then the processes continues from there,” she said.
Mrs Grace Egwunibe, representing the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, advised operators of orphanages and homes to be transparent and accountable while strictly adhering to the provisions of the Child Rights Act. (NAN)