Children of Vine Heritage Home (VHH), Kuje Area council of the federal capital territory (FCT), experienced a new lease of life when they moved to their permanent building that was built by Actionaid and it’s partners; ADEOLA TUKURU was there at the facility tour of the building.
The destruction of the life of a child, either during his/her birth, or within a few days after he/she has been born is inimical to the provisions of the law.
The sanctity of life falls within the context of globally acceptable laws. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, International Covenant on Civil, Political and Cultural Rights, 1966, United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), 1990, African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, 1981, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 1989, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol, 2006, the EU Guidelines for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Child (2017), are international legal provisions that seeks to protect the rights and sanctity of life.
At the national level, Section 33 (1) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as amended, stipulates that “Every person has a right to life, and no one shall be deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty in Nigeria”.
The Child’s Rights Act, 2003, domesticated the Convention on the Rights of the Child and serves as a legal instrument for the protection of children’s rights in Nigeria and details associated with government responsibilities. Section II of the Child Rights Act of 2003 provided that “no child shall be subjected to physical, mental or emotional injury, abuse, neglect or maltreatment, including sexual abuse as well as torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, among others”.
The EU Strategic Framework on Human Rights and Democracy, adopted in June 2012, committed to integrating all children’s rights standards and principles into the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all its policies and programmes.
Article 2 (Non-discrimination) of the EU guidelines affirms that ‘All children shall be protected from all forms of discrimination based on their and their parents’ race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status’.
Therefore, nothing could be more heart warming for children that had survived infanticide from various communities in the federal capital territory (FCT), than the fact that they now have a permanent place of abode.
The building includes a storey-building dormitory for both boys and girls, an auditorium, kitchen, a block of classrooms, murseries for new born babies, water supply facility, a perimeter fence, a wash area, poultry and farming area amongst others.
The former place where the children were kept became too congested, as the number of survivors increased including those of them growing up. The project was conceived to enhance the issues of hygiene, proximity to school, and better nutrition pending when they will be reunited with their families.
ActionAid Nigeria, European Union, EU supported and funded the project, and also did the groundbreaking for the project which commenced in 2020.
How VHH started
Since 1996, Vine Heritage Home (VHH) has been a haven for survivors of infanticide. As at 2019, ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) began mobilising actions towards the abolition of infanticide in the FCT (MATAI), a project funded by the European Commission (EU).
According to reports, 57 communities spread across the Abuja Municipal Area Council, Abaji, Kuje, Kwali, and Gwagwalada practice infanticide. They believe that children born as twin or multiple-birth, babies who grew upper teeth, those born as albinos, with birth defects, those whose mother died during or after delivery are labeled evil and must be killed.
MATAI project
The goal of MATAI project is to contribute to the protection and promotion of rights of children in Nigeria. To achieve this, they ensured the implementation and monitoring of existing legal and policy frameworks that address infanticide practices in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Cost of building project
According to the Country Director of AAN, Ene Obi, the EU provided £495,000 amounting to N204,964,006.50 while ActionAid contributed £55,000 amounting to N22,773,778.50. By way of Corporate Social Responsibility, N4,574,800 was donated by AIICO insurance, N2.1million by Tangerine Africa, N2.2million by ADUVIE International School, N200,000 by Hawthorne Suite, N500,000 by Yaliam Press and an estimated N1.5million was received as individual donations through ActionAid’s Community Sponsorship Initiative.
She further said ActionAid staff also contributed N300,000 which was used to purchase a vegetable farmland nearby.
Sustaining the facility
The Head of Operations, VHH, Pastor Stephen Olusola explained that they intend to sustain the running of the home through the poultry projects.
He said they have a large number of fishes in the pond and they will sell the larger parts of fishes to the general public while the other part will be for consumption adding that they will also be doing delivery services to homes, markets and others .
He further said the Home plans to rent out the auditorium for activities happening around its environs; just as it is still open to goodwill from stakeholders and donors .
What ActionAid Nigeria is doing
Also the Manager Social Mobilization, Adewale Adeduntan who was represented by the Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria , Ene Obi said ActionAid Nigeria, in its over 20 years of existence, has implemented several projects on Governance, Food and Agriculture , Education, Women’s Rights, Humanitarian , Social Investment and Conflict in Emergencies, impacting lives in over 400 communities across 36 states and the FCT.
He noted that since 2019, AAN has been implementing the Mobilising Actions Towards the Aboltion of Infanticide (MATAI) Project in partnership with the Vine Heritage Home (VHH) while collaborating with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), other MDAs and child-focused networks.
“We believe the termination of the lives of children during or after childbirth is inimical to the concept which justifies the sanctity of life and all contextually acceptable global laws.
“The practice of infanticide is caused by traditional beliefs, Illiteracy and exacerbated by high maternal mortality rates due to poor access to health services. All of these caught the attention of ActionAid and in partnership with the European Union (EU) and the Vine Heritage Home that put together the MATAI project,” he said.
Close out ceremony of MATAI
During the official close out ceremony of Mobilising Actions Towards the Abolition of Infanticide (MATAI) in the FCT Project from 2019-2022, in Abuja recently the AAN Country Director said the destruction of the life of children during or after childbirth is inimical to the concept which justifies the sanctity of life and all contextually acceptable global laws.
Infanticide remains a practice shrouded in secrecy as only a handful of community mmbers are willing to talk about. Babies are buried (alive) with their deceased mothers, poisoned (with a mixture of deadly plants and herbs), starved, sacrificed and suffocated.
This practice of infanticide is caused by traditional beliefs and illiteracy and exacerbated by high maternal mortality rates due to poor health practices. All of these caught the attention of ActionAid, and in partnership with the European Union (EU) and the Vine Heritage Home, put together the MATAI project.
Also, Director of Programmes, ActionAid Nigeria, Suwaiba Muhammad Dankabo, explained that MATAI’s project wins 01:Implementation and Monitoring of existing legal and policy frameworks, 105: Child Rights Implementation Committees (CRIC)members trained.
“05:Child Protection Desks /Social Protection Officers trained and working ,05: Projects of Area Councils,28: Clusters of change Advocates Against Infanticides (AAI)trained and 04:VHH Children now active members of the FCT Children’s parliament,” she said.
