One crucial area that has become a source of concern to the Borno residents in recent times is the pitiable condition of the motherless babies and vulnerable children at the Fatima Ali Sheriff Orphanage Home, Maiduguri which the state government through the ministry for women affairs and social development has appeared unabashed on their plight, hence the difficult condition of the orphans? has continued deteriorate.
It is worrisome to note that, the state ministry for women Affairs and social development whose responsibility is to provide social services to the needy, especially the motherless children, has fallen short of expectation in this direction.
It was discovered that apart from the fact that, these motherless babies are under-fed, the facilities at the orphanage home are also obsolete, therefore making their lives more miserable.
Also, it was found out that most times their food and baby care items usually come from the non-governments organization (NGOs), spirited individuals as well as religious organizations, while the women ministry that is supposed to ensure the good welfare of the orphans donates little.
When our reporter visited the orphanage home recently, one of the workers there who does not want her name in print, revealed that government was not doing enough on the issue of the orphans. “Honestly, the ministry for women affairs that is responsible for the welfare of these children is not doing enough at all.
You are here now, and you can see how miserably they are looking. The truth is that we are lacking many food items, and most of the assistance we are getting here are coming from individuals and organisations,” she said.
According to her, the total number of the motherless babies and the vulnerable children at the Fatima Ali Sheriff Orphanage Home are 17, comprising of pre-adolescent and infants who are kept in a different buildings within the compound.
Meanwhile, fortune recently smiled on the motherless babies and vulnerable children at the orphanage home when a non-governmental organization (NGO) called Multi-shield Limited donated food and baby care items to them.
The North-East manager of the Multi-shield Limited, Dr. Anna Peter who presented the items to the commissioner for women affairs Borno State, Hajiya Inna Galadima opined that, it is the tradition of the organisation to render assistance of this nature to the motherless babies.
According to her, such class of people need adequate care and constant assistance, adding that multi-shield as an organization will not relent in its effort in assisting the needy especially the motherless babies.
Dr Peter further gave an insight about the Multi-shield Limited which she said started operation in 1997 as a Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and is one of the first set of HMOs accredited by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to provide managed care services to the Nigerian populace, therefore reduce the burden of health care financing on public funds.
Responding to the gesture, the state commissioner for women affairs and social development, Hajiya Inna Galadima who received the items, thanked the organisation immensely for the splendid gesture on the motherless babies.
The Commissioner reiterated that the Women Affairs Ministry was not unmindful of how often the Multi-shield Limited has been offering assistance to the orphanage home in the state, urging them to continue in that spirit of understanding and philanthropic.
The items donated to the orphanage home include, corn flour, bags of rice, cartoons of Nan, Spaghetti, milk and salt. Others are groundnut oil, mopping broom, firewood etc.