The House of Representatives has passed for second reading, a bill for an act to criminalise child abandonment in the country.

Sergius Ogun (PDP-Delta), who sponsored the bill while leading the debate on the floor of the House on Tuesday, said the bill is to impose sanctions on any parents that abandoned a newborn baby.

The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Amend the Child Rights Act, Cap. C50, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004, seeks to impose sanction on any parent who abandons a newborn child and absconds after birth.”

Mr Ogun explained that the bill proposes a fine of N200,000 or imprisonment for six months or both.

“This bill, therefore, seeks to specifically make provision within the Child Right Act against the practice of child abandonment by parents by introducing a new subsection 3 into the extant section 14 of the act.”

Contributing to the debate, Nicholas Ossai (Delta-PDP) said though parents must cater for a child, the government also must complement the duty of parents.

“Imagine a father who has brought out a child into the world and has no work for the past eight years. It is the duty of that government to help that father and the child.”

The bill was therefore referred to the Committee on Women Affairs.

(NAN)