• Workers, others accuse management of negligence, malpractices

• We sell donated items to make money –Orphanage chairman

From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki

The Nigerian Red Cross Society (NRCS) Motherless Babies Home in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State is enmeshed in allegations of corruption that are said to be causing the motherless children untold hardship, sickness and death. 

Regularly, public spirited individuals, non-governmental organisations, public office holders, corporate bodies and families visit the home to lend their support. The visits increase during yuletide, birthdays and other occasions to celebrate with the children in the home by donating cash, food and other items for their upkeep. However, Saturday Sun gathered that some of the items donated to the home are sold in the open market by some of the managers while the proceeds are not accounted for.

Indefinite suspension of cashier, clerical officer 

Following allegations of malfeasance in the home, a delegation of the Nigerian Red Cross Society was dispatched from Abuja in April this year to Ebonyi. After the visit, the delegation recommended the suspension of some of the managers indefinitely for gross misconduct. 

The visit of the delegation to the home followed petitions by those who have been visiting the home and donating food and other items for the upkeep of the children. Since April this year when the suspension took effect, the affected staff have yet to return to their duty posts.

A tale of rot and decay 

Ekoh Cyril, who has been working in the home as a painter alleged that items donated to the home for the children were usually loaded by some of the staff and sold to willing buyers while the proceeds were pocketed by the staff, leaving the children in the home in hunger and pathetic conditions. 

“They use tricycles to load the items to the market and they didn’t know I was videoing them when I was working there. That home is very bad. You can’t enter there because of the conditions of the home; the toilet, the bathroom and everywhere.   

“If you go to the kitchen, you will not believe what you will see there. They can’t even fill the gas they are using. They are still cooking with firewood. But that kitchen was built so that they will not be staying under the sun or in the rain while cooking. 

“I am always there and when they ask the cashier to bring money to refill gas, he will refuse and when I ask them why are you still cooking with firewood, they will tell me to go and ask our cashier,” he said.  

A regular visitor to the home, Patience Izuegbunam who expressed displeasure at the condition of the children and the home, also accused the managers of the home of selling items she donated. 

She claimed that she has donated items worth over N5 million to the home, apart from cash donations. She disclosed that she got to know that items she donated were sold when she went to the market and saw some of them, including diapers, cartons of biscuits, noodles and toiletries. 

“I was surprised to see things I donated to the children back at the market where I bought them and asked myself, does it mean that these people don’t like what I donated to the children? 

“Every year, I visit the home as part of my yearly resolution. I visit there to show love to the orphans. And I usually make donations, items like diapers, toiletries, detergents, tubers of yam, rice, biscuits, noodles and some cash because I feel that these are the things the children need. 

“I bought all these things last year and marked them and parked them by the side to identify the ones that are my own because it was December. That was last year and people were rushing. You know how festive periods are in Abakaliki, especially between December 15 and 25. 

“So, after buying them, I loaded them into my car and drove home. A few days later, I carried them to the motherless babies’ home to give to the children. After the festive period – that was January this year, around the third week, I went to the market where I bought those things, to buy some of those items for my family use. And I saw the items I bought in December. 

“I was so shocked. I asked those selling the items because they are my regular customers, and they told me that some persons brought the items in a tricycle for them to buy. 

“I went to the motherless babies home after two days to tell them my discovery and they told me they were the ones that sold those items to them, that they needed money to run the home and it was the beginning of the year when things are usually hard. I was like why sell diapers, detergents and toiletries, if you must sell other things? Are these items not very important in the home,” she queried. 

One of the female workers in the home, who pleaded anonymity, accused the management of the home of adopting a nonchalant attitude to the welfare of the children despite huge donations people make to the home.

The lady also alleged that a storey building in the home has become a conduit pipe for the managers of the home and that they have been telling people that they are building a storey building that will ensure better shelter for the children. 

“Although we do lots of expenses daily – we buy fuel, we do recharge our lights and all other expenses but that doesn’t mean that at the end of the day, money will finish. They will never accept that there is money. They will always say there is no money when we request for money to handle crucial issues in the home. 

“There is a storey building behind the motherless babies home within the premises. They started the building in 2020 and people have been donating for the building. The building has not been completed. They destroyed some rooms in the building and rebuilt them. A Red Cross delegation from Abuja came and asked them to stop the building but they have started working again there and they are now trying to roof it.  

“Our salary is nothing to write home about, but we are even happy that it has been increased from N15,000 to N30,000 after the Red Cross delegation’s visit. The N30,000 is not enough because the work is very stressful,” she lamented. 

The worker also narrated how some children in the home died this year.

“When the bedspreads were very bad and doctors complained that old bedspreads would cause ill-health for the babies, the management of the home did not do anything about it until people started donating bedspreads for the home. 

“This year, we lost some of the babies in this home to malnutrition. Sometimes, if a baby is sick and you tell them to release some money for drugs for the baby, they will refuse to release money and tell you there is no money for now. Sometimes, when they eventually release money, the baby would have been at the point of death and this happens when the doctor who takes care of the babies travels out of the state. 

“When we call the doctor to report that a baby has health problem, he sends a prescription for the baby but the management of the home will say there is no money for the drugs and when the case is very serious, that is when we will start going to the hospital, running around and the money they said is not available will be available immediately and at the end, the baby will die. If the baby survives, he/she will no longer look healthy.”

We sell items to make money, run this home –Chairman 

Chairman of the motherless babies home, Chief Simeon Nweze, in his reaction, alleged that the allegations of fraud and neglect of the babies in the home were the handiwork of the enemies who he said are not happy with the progress he is making at the orphanage. 

He admitted that items donated to the home are sold by the management and that the purpose of selling the items is to raise money to run the home since the government is not supporting the home. 

Nweze said some workers of the home are not happy that items are no longer being shared to them the way it used to be and that they are the ones alleging that the items are sold and the money diverted to private pockets. 

“What they are saying is false and I will take you to see the babies and know if what they are saying is true. Enemies are everywhere and if you are doing something and you don’t encounter them, it means you are not doing well. Enemies are the ones carrying out all these allegations but they can’t pull me down. 

“One, we are running here on our own and this place is owned by the Nigerian Red Cross. Government doesn’t give us any money. We have run this home on our own since it started in 1972. This is my 6th year as chairman of the home and people can attest to my performance. I was the one that repositioned this home. People forgot this home and I came in and repositioned it. 

“One man was running this home as his private business and there was a problem and the Red Cross delegation from Abuja came down and removed him. After removing him, they put some people in before I came in and when I came in, I said the first thing I will do is to tackle the accommodation issue. 

“I told workers here that I will do something to know if we can have better accommodation here and they started laughing at me. They didn’t believe it. I started constructing a storey building behind this building where these children are staying. There was no money for the project but I persevered. 

“I decided to dispose of some of the things people were donating to the home for the children by selling them to raise money for the project and also pay workers. We have 17 staff here that we pay salaries monthly and how do we pay the workers if we don’t dispose of some of these items being donated to the home since the government doesn’t give us money? 

“The problem we have now is that we no longer share things donated to the orphanage the way we used to do, that’s just the problem and I am pleading with everyone to be patient and allow me to finish this building project and go. I am a traditional ruler, I have something to do, I came here to help. When I finish my tenure, another person will come in and continue from where I stopped,” he told Saturday Sun.

Asked about the death of some children in the home, Nweze explained that not many children were dying at the orphanage compared to other homes.

“They are saying that children are dying in this motherless babies’ home. In my own family, how many people have died?  Four out of 40 children here have died this year and people are saying that children are dying here. In my own family, how many people have died? Those who died in the home, died in the hospital and not here and they are the ones that were picked up and brought to us,” he explained. 

Lawyer demands monitoring, evaluation of home 

But a lawyer, Mrs Nkechi Mbam who visits the home regularly, differed with the chairman of the motherless babies home. 

She disclosed that the children are going through hell without proper care, alleging that  people are donating many things to the home because of the children and that those things are not usually there when you pay an unscheduled visit to the home to check on the children. 

She called for the establishment of a monitoring and evaluation office in the home by the state government to tackle the rot and save the children from what they are passing through. 

The lawyer also recommended employment of more staff and medical doctors for the home to be able to take care of the children adequately.

She said although many public spirited individuals and organisations have been helping the home through their donations, what they donate are not what the children need but what those taking care of them want. 

Her words: “If you have a monitoring and evaluation officer, when the officer comes there, he will say this is what the babies need per week. There are some babies that are picked up and babies that are picked up will need to go to the hospital and get that help. 

“They said they have a doctor that is taking care of the babies, what is the qualification of that doctor? How well is that doctor able to care for the number of children that are in the home?  So, these are the things that they need to work on. They can put doctors there that will be there for specialised care for the children and not one doctor. There should be at least three doctors in the home to be able to care for these children and give them the utmost health they need. 

“They need to have a synergy between the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and the Ministry of Health so that they can post doctors to the home and it will be easy for the children to access good medical care. When I wrote a petition to the Red Cross, Abuja, it was for them to come and investigate the home. The delegation must have their own report which I am sure they will not want to let out to the public. 

“They told us they came up with some recommendations which they presented to their head office and I expected that they should implement those recommendations which they did. They only implemented some and sacked those erring officers of the home and increased the wages of the people working there but they need to do more. 

“The management of the home needs to focus on the children, care for the children, provide for the children, this is very important. Just take an unscheduled visit to the place. If they allow you to see the children, you will see that it is not easy for the children.  The children are going through hell. People are donating many things to the home because of the children but those things are not usually there when you pay an unscheduled visit. 

“I think that they don’t have enough workers, it’s like they are overwhelmed. I don’t know how many workers they have now but they need more workers so that they can place them on shift to be able to give optimal service to the children. It is not easy.”