by crossriverwatch admin
A baby of about two days old abandoned by an unknown mother was found dead behind the Medical Students Hostel, University of Calabar near the office of the Cross River State first lady, Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke.
Speaking at the scene where the dead baby was abandoned, special assistant to the Governor on Public Health/ NGO and Special Projects, Dr. Regina Ejemot-Nwadiaro said her attention was drawn to the incident by an anonymous caller which prompted her presence to the scene.
Ejimot-Nwadiaro said that immediately she got to the place, she called the Calabar Urban Development Authority, CUDA, who quickly responded to the call and subsequently alerted the Police.
She condemned the perpetrator of the act which she described as dastardly, callous, inhuman and outright wickedness.
According to her “For the past five years the wife of the State Governor Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke, has been championing the stamping out of teenage pregnancy child abandonment in the state through her project; Mothers’ Against Child Abandonment (MACA).
“It is thus, disheartening that in spite of the consistent efforts by Mrs. Obioma Liyel-Imoke and the MACA team, people could still dump babies.”
She said the main goal of MACA was to prevent teenage pregnancy and child abandonment and to save lives and called on the public to avail themselves of the services MACA provides.
The MACA’s ultimate goal she said was to contribute to the achievement of Millennium Development Goals especially as it concerned Child and Maternal Mortality.
Besides, she stated that Mrs. Imoke initiated the Calabar Carnival Queen (CCQ), as the face of MACA for advocacy/sensitization visits to secondary schools in the state preaching abstinence from pre-marital sex and building their confidence.
The Executive Secretary of CUDA Gabriel Egari on his part promised to incident the case with the police as well as get clearance before his office could evacuate and bury the dead baby.