Thousands of orphans roaming the streets of Lagos – ASOHON

Said they need housing

By Funmi Ajumobi

Lagos has been advised to harbor thousands of orphans roaming the streets in order to reorient their brains to avoid future disaster.

Advising the government at an event organized by the Lagos branch of the Association of Orphanage and Home Operators in Nigeria, ASOHON, the association's coordinator, Alhaji Ganiyu Olayiwola Dosunmu, said the government had the power to take children off the streets, to feed and redirect their minds from hooliganism, kidnappings, banditry towards positive enterprises which would benefit everyone, whatever their number.

"Non-governmental organizations, NGOs, cannot do it alone. When you are still sleeping with both eyes closed, it's because the boys the environment has turned into bad boys aren't in your neighborhood, "Dosunmu said.

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"Orphans outside are more numerous than those kept in orphanages. They are without parents or guardian. They only have useless teachers who make them drink alcohol, hard drugs, smoke, etc.

"Feeding them on the road once a year does not solve their problem."

According to him, the government should have an annual budget, especially for orphanages registered in the state, as NGOs are limited in funding to house and feed them successfully.

In his speech based on the theme of the event, "The Place of Orphans in the Age of the Pandemic," Lagos State Commissioner for Youth and Social Welfare, Mr. Olusegun Dawodu, asserted that 'Unless concrete steps are taken by government and society to seek orphans to provide social and emotional support to meet their needs, society may be in great danger.

He congratulated the association for its partnership with Lagos State to alleviate the suffering of orphans and vulnerable children.

Ms. Omolara Adesanya, board member of Pastor Bimbo Odukoya orphanage, noted that losing both parents at a very old age is not easy to bear not to mention the children who lose theirs at such an old age. early.

She advised members of society to visit orphanages to help and make these children happy /

Ms Elsie Akerele, founder of Lady Atinuke Oyindamola Home for the Abandoned Mentally Challenged Children, lamented that hers is a special case as children are mostly neglected, isolated, separated and rejected.

"We need the necessary encouragement in terms of facilities and medical support. Many of these children enter and leave the hospital every day. We need the money to take care of them, I have two for surgical correction but I don't have the money to do it, "she said.

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