Officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development have visited one Mrs. Afusat Salami 35, who gave birth to a set of triplet recently via Ceasarian Section with a promise that the State would offer necessary assistance to alleviate the standard of living of the parent and the children.
The Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Mr. Segun Dawodu who was part of the team that embarked on the visit denied any plan to arrest Afusat and her children.
He explained that the officials of the Child Protection Unit of the Ministry were sent to visit the mother of three in order to gather information about her living condition with a view to giving necessary assistance.
The Commissioner recalled that the attention of the Ministry was earlier drawn to a video that surfaced online about Mrs. Afusat Salami where she narrated her deplorable living condition and called for help from philanthropists to help alleviate the standard of living of her family and the newly delivered set of triplet through a Polaris bank account number.
He said “Precisely on the 5th of November, 2020, when the Ministry received information about Mrs Salami who resides at Owolabi Street, Oshogun, Alapere Ketu area of the State, a team of government officials from the Child Protection Unit of the Ministry was immediately sent to visit and assure her of the intervention from the government.
“Although Mrs. Salami claimed that the threat posed to her source of livelihood being a petty trader in a school by the aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic and the inability of her husband to meet the family’s financial obligation made her cried out for financial assistance, the government officials who visited her, however advised her to desist from using the children to beg for financial assistance.”
He added that the Ministry of Youth and Social Development being saddled with the statutorily responsibility of giving succor to the downtrodden will continue to do all within its power for social protection of children and all residents of the State.