The officials discovered the newly born baby wrapped in a polythene bag in Ikoyi

The Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) officials have retrieved a day-old baby from a dumpster while evacuating waste in a street in Ikoyi, Lagos.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in Lagos State, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed this on his verified Twitter handle monitored by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday.

Mr Hundeyin said that at about 10 a.m. on Thursday, LAWMA officials went to the Ikoyi Police Division to file a report on the discovery of the baby.

"The officials reported that they were on their routine duty of moving wastes around the Ikoyi area when they discovered the newly born baby wrapped in a polythene bag.

"A police team led by the Divisional Crime Officer rushed to the scene.

"The baby was rushed to Military Hospital, 81 Division, Dodan Barracks Ikoyi for medical treatment before taking the child to Motherless Baby Home," he said.

The spokesperson said but for the quick detection by the LAWMA officials, the baby would have died.

Mr Hundeyin further said the baby was doing fine, stressing that an investigation into the case has begun.

"Infanticide is a crime and punishable," he warned.

NAN reports that Section 327A of the Criminal Code Act in Nigeria where a woman by any wilful act or omission causes the death of her child being a child under the age of 12 months, amounts to murder. She is guilty of a felony, to wit of infanticide, and may for such offence be dealt with and punished as if she had been guilty of the offence of manslaughter of the child.