…As NBC set to complete production of eco-friendly bottles***
The Nigeria Immigration Service, Oyo State Command, has
discovered a ‘baby factory’ allegedly owned by one Mrs Stella, on Block B,
House 8, Adebayo Oke Street, Sharp Corner, Oluyole area of Ibadan.
Two victims, including a pregnant lady, were rescued and
three accomplices arrested at the factory.
The Comptroller, NIS, Oyo State Command, Saleh Abdullahi,
said that the Zone F of the command discovered the ‘baby factory’.
According to him, the alleged operator of the factory,
Stella, is now at large.
Abdullahi said the place was discovered in the process of
rescuing a 16-year-old girl, Mary Yawa, from one Mrs Kehinde Omotoso of the
Awolowo Bashorun area of Ibadan on January 28, 2019.
The victim, Yawa, was said to have earlier delivered a baby
on the premises on August 28, 2018.
Abdullahi stated, “In the process of investigation, Yawa, a
Togolese, revealed that she was impregnated by one Adewale when she served as a
housemaid to one Alhaja from Saki.
“A few days to her delivery, the said Alhaja took her to
Stella, who is not a nurse, and on whose premises she was delivered of a baby
on August 22, 2018.
“After her delivery, precisely on August 27, 2018, the
Alhaja from Saki came to the house with an Igbo woman and took her child away,
while Yawa was given to Omotoso in whose custody she was rescued.
“The Nigeria Immigration Service visited Stella’s house but
did not meet her. Officers met a 25-year-old girl, Odunayo Abiodun, who claimed
to be Stella’s area sister, and another 21-year-old pregnant lady, Esther
Hadji.”
The comptroller said the heavily pregnant Hadji, a Togolese,
claimed that she was brought to Stella’s ‘baby factory’ by her brother, Kodjo.
Abdullahi said the immigration and the police had been on a
manhunt for Stella and the Alhaja from Saki.
According to him, Stella’s house was met under lock and key.
He vowed that Stella and the Alhaja would soon be arrested
and prosecuted.
In the meantime, the Nigerian Bottling Company Limited has
announced plans to complete its production of eco-friendly bottles which
started in 2008 and also boost its production capacity across various operations
this year.
The Managing Director, NBC Ltd, Mr George Polymenakos, said,
“We firmly believe that our business can only be as strong as the communities
in which we operate and our people. For example, this year, we will complete
our conversion to the eco-friendlier ultra-glass bottle across our operations
in Nigeria.
“We started this capital-intensive project 10 years ago as
part of our commitment to environmental stewardship. The implications of this
project are far reaching on the environment, energy use and even impact on our
roads.”
Polymenakos was quoted in a statement by NBC as saying that
the company would reap the returns on its huge investments of over 500 million
Euros, directed at beefing up operations over the last four years.
He noted that though the Nigerian economy was experiencing
slow growth, the company was optimistic that it would record good business
performance this year, having laid a solid foundation with the enhancement of
its portfolio, the bolstering of necessary infrastructure as well as the
renewed commitment of its employees to deliver on projection.
He explained that the company was now equipped with the
right infrastructure to meet the needs of its consumers while also creating
value for the shareholders.
He said, “The NBC’s business transformation and optimisation
plan which commenced in 2015, led to NBC bringing into Nigeria, investment of
over five hundred million Euros for the expansion and extensive upgrade of our
manufacturing plants in Asejire, Ikeja, Abuja, Owerri, Challawa, Maiduguri,
Port Harcourt and Benin, with the resultant increase in our total production
capacity.
The two victims and three accomplices were later handed over
to the representatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of
Trafficking in Persons in the presence of journalists.
Yawa told journalists that the Alhaja lied to her that the
baby had been given to Adewale’s mother.
She, however, said she did not know the whereabouts of her
baby and the said Adewale.
Hadji, on her part, stated that Stella told her brother,
Kodjo, that she would assist in taking care of the baby whenever she gave
birth.
She said Stella later told her after four days of living
with her that the baby would be collected from her and given to the mother of
the person who impregnated her.
“I knew she was lying and I told her I would think about it,” Hadji said.
Punch
