The Association of Orphanages and Home Operators in Nigeria, ASOHON, has urged the federal government to intensify efforts in ridding of fake orphanage homes in the country.
This was as they called for statistics on the number of orphanage homes and children in orphanages in Nigeria, saying it will aid the process of clamping down on these fake orphanage homes.
National President, ASOHON, Rev. Gabriel Oyediji, made the call at the end of a two-day National General Conference of ASOHON members, in Abuja.
He said: "We need statistics of the number of orphanages, children in orphanages in the country. The Federal government has made several inconclusive attempts and they call us but we don't have the number of children, and total numbers of orphans in Nigeria today. We have seen UNICEF's statistics of 2008 that pegged it at 17.5 million in 2008.
"From 2008 to 2023 is a long time and must have doubled, but no current statistics to that effect and if we don't have it, there is a problem."
Oyediji further urged the federal government to create a platform for monitoring children in orphanages that leave their care. This was as he also called for collaboration with the federal government.
According to him, "There is no post-institutional monitoring of what happens to children when they leave home for adoption and fostering. But this training will enable us to track in and out of children in orphanages and also check abuses, growing rates of illegal orphanages, who are indulging in child's trafficking and child merchandising, baby farming and others will be made a thing of the past.
"We are also calling on government to get us involved, we are dealing with children if there are 17.5 million in 2008, with this figure, government home is less than five per cent. 95 per cent of this figure are in private under our members.
"Not getting us along in policy, decision making and putting us aside is putting the destiny of the Nigerian child aside and it is very unfair. We are asking the new government, who understands their pain and what they went through, to use that and make a new trajectory in orphan management and welfare in the country. We are ready to support the government to turn around this country."
On his part, Country Director, Nigeria, Both Ends Believing, BEB, Silas Gyang, said a software has been developed to enhance the capturing of children's data in orphanage fatalities.
He said, "The Children First Software, CFS, was developed to enhance the capturing of children's data in their facilities. 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.
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"We brought this to incorporate technology into orphan care and orphan alternative care. So the software gives them a profile of the captured child and gives room for better monitoring because in the software there is a GPS aspect, where these homes can be traced wherever they are. That gives the location of every home and gives accurate data about how many children are in a particular home at every point in time.
"Our desire is to see that children are transitioned from institutionalisation into loving families."
