Mother Fleeing Husband Found in Lagos Canal With 5-Month-Old Baby
Kehinde Adeleye
A mother fleeing what she described as a troubled situation with her husband ended up in a canal with her five-month-old baby along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, where officials of the Lagos State Environmental Sanitation Corps, popularly known as KAI, found and rescued them.
The mother and her baby were discovered at Abule-Ado on Wednesday during a routine clearance operation by KAI operatives.
According to the agency’s spokesperson, Lukman Ajayi, the woman could not give a satisfactory explanation for being in the canal but told the operatives that she was running away from her husband, who lives in FESTAC.
The situation became more worrying when the operatives discovered that the five-month-old girl was in poor health.
“Today, our operatives rescued a mother and her five-month-old baby girl from a canal at Abule-Ado during routine clearance operations on the Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
“The mother could not give a satisfactory answer as to why they were there, and she only said she was running from her husband, who lived in FESTAC,” Ajayi said.
Concerned about the safety of both mother and child, the operatives immediately took them to a nearby hospital for medical attention.
Ajayi said the baby was in an unhealthy condition when she was found.
“Both the mother and the child have been taken to the hospital. The child was not in a good state of health when they were rescued,” he added.
The rescue has once again drawn attention to the difficult circumstances faced by vulnerable mothers and children who sometimes seek refuge in dangerous and unsuitable environments.
For this mother, the canal along one of Lagos’ busiest highways had apparently become a place of refuge before KAI operatives found her.
The incident also comes barely two weeks after KAI rescued four nursing mothers and their babies from an illegal dumpsite at Agboju along the same Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
One of the babies rescued during that operation was only nine days old. The women and their children had reportedly been living in an environment surrounded by waste, poor air quality and limited access to basic necessities.
The repeated rescues have raised concerns about the need for more than environmental enforcement. Vulnerable families in such situations may also require access to emergency shelter, healthcare, counselling and social welfare support.
Headline Options: See List Of
1. ‘She Was Running From Her Husband’ — Mother, Baby Rescued From Lagos Canal
2. Running From Her Husband, Mother Ends Up in Lagos Canal With 5-Month-Old Baby
3. ‘I Was Running From My Husband’ — KAI Rescues Mother, Baby From Lagos Canal
4. Mother Fleeing Husband Found in Lagos Canal With 5-Month-Old Baby
5. Lagos: Mother, 5-Month-Old Baby Found Living in Canal During KAI Operation
6. A Mother, Her Baby and a Canal: KAI Rescue Raises Fresh Concern in Lagos
7. KAI Finds Mother, Sick 5-Month-Old Baby in Canal Along Lagos-Badagry Expressway
8. From Home to Canal: KAI Rescues Mother, Baby in Lagos
9. Mother Seeking Refuge Found With Sick Baby in Lagos Canal
10. Two Weeks After Dumpsite Rescue, KAI Finds Another Mother, Baby in Danger
11. Lagos Canal Rescue: Mother Says She Was Running From Husband
12. ‘She Was Running From Her Husband’ — How KAI Found Mother, Baby in Canal
