Days-old baby turns up dead on dumpsite

A newborn baby boy was on Saturday found dead at the dump site in front of a Primary School in Okaka community, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa.

According to residents of the area, the baby must have been abandoned by the mother in the night.

The National Daily gathered from residents of the area who saw the little baby wrapped in an Ankara clothing, crying helplessly.

Men of the Bayelsa Environmental Sanitation Authority (BESA), who were monitoring the monthly sanitation exercise in Bayelsa, visited the scene of the incident and condemned such act.

Director of Waste Management, BESA, Mr Ebitto Alazigha, who led the monitoring team, enjoined residents to always monitor their neighbours on what they take to dump sites.

He said that the authority would put measures in place to check such menace in future.

Chairperson of Gender Response Team (GRT), and founder of Do-Foundation, Dise Ogbise, blamed the ugly development on poverty and promiscuity amongst young girls.

She urged young women with difficulties in taking care of their babies to contact her office rather than destroy innocent lives.

Describing the act as illegal, she warned that if the perpetrators were caught, they would be arrested for murder, prosecuted and jailed.

Police spokesman in Bayelsa, SP Asinim Butswat, confirmed the incident, saying the command has already contacted the sanitation authority to evacuate the corpse of the baby, while investigation was ongoing.