Lagos Shuts 100 Illegal Day Care Centres

The Lagos State Government has shut down over 100 illegal Day Care Centres across the state, reveals Commissioner for Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA), Mrs. Joke Orelope-Adefulire.

She further disclosed that operators of such illegal day care centres had been arrested and charged to court, saying that the Office of Public Defender (OPD) was handling the court case.

According to her, the state government was intensifying efforts to clampdown on other illegal day care centres operating in the state, calling on the public to give information to government about illegal day care centres operating in their areas.

The commissioner also disclosed that 200 children who are being treated in a dehumanising way by their parents or guardians were rescued and taken to the ministry’s homes for children.

The commissioner said some of the children rescued from their guardians would be taken to their parents while those whose parents could not be seen would remain under the tutelage of the state government, adding that government might look for people to adopt some of the children.

Orelope-Adefulire further disclosed that the government was currently prosecuting 37 men who had raped young girls between the ages of two and 16 years, adding that the ministry would work with the Ministry of Education to reach out to schools in order to get information from students on issues of ill-treatment and segxwal abuse from adults.

She said that the ministry officials would put boxes in schools where students could drop written reports of ill-treatment and segxwal abuse from their parents or guardians, adding that such information would be treated confidentially.

The commissioner stated that the ministry would continue to create a conducive environment for the healthy growth and development of the child through inter-related programmes for child survival, development and protection.

On skills acquisition, she disclosed that the ministry had trained 60, 000 grassroots men and women in the areas of tie and die; balloon and flower decoration; hat making and craft; bed making, among others.

In the area of poverty alleviation, Orelope-Adefulire said over 25,000 men and women had benefited from its scheme in collaboration with Micro Finance Banks for the purpose alleviating their plight.

She disclosed that over N1 billion had been disbursed as micro credit grants to the beneficiaries.

“Other categories of unemployed people benefited from the scheme, including the yellow taxi cab operators through the acquisition of 250 brand new vehicles for their taxi operation during the first phase of the programme.

“The second phase is almost completed with another 250 cabs to complement the existing vehicles,” she stated. She added that 9,059 students graduated from its skill acquisition centres between 2007 and 2009 while 4,534 were currently undergoing training this year.