A two-year-old child has been saved from the hands of death by the Gender-Based Violence Response Team of the Vicar Hope Foundation Umuahia, the Abia State capital.
The toddler was, on Saturday, rescued from an uncompleted building at Zone 5 Agbama Housing Estate in the city where she had been locked up for several days.
WuzupNigeria reports that the child looked exhausted, dehydrated and malnourished as of the time of rescue having gone days without food.
The Programme Manager of the Vicar Hope Foundation, Mr Raymond Ukwa, said the centre had received a tip-off from neighbours around the uncompleted building that a little child had been locked up there.
Based on the report, the foundation reported the incident to the Umuahia Area Commander of the Nigeria Police Force, Mr. Ekeinde Odion, who detailed officers to break into the building and rescue the child.
“As a foundation, we believe in creating a safe environment for our children, a lot of deaths of children every year occur because of negligence and preventable diseases, it’s our duty to ensure we reduce these numbers and protect the right to life of every child,” he said.
Neighbours around the vicinity of the building who spoke on condition of anonymity during the rescue operation told newsmen that the parent of the child has been in the habit of locking away the little child for days on end without food or water and revealed that they sometimes throw in crumbs of food for the baby through a crack in the wall of the building.
Confirming the incident, the Assistant Secretary Board of Trustees of the Foundation, Mr. Chika Ojiegbe said the child was resuscitated, examined by medical personnel and has been taken to a safe dwelling while relevant authorities have begun an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the abandonment of the baby.
