Awka – A notorious mentally-challenged teenager and her infant baby have been rescued by the Anambra State Ministry of Women and Children Affairs.
The teenager and her baby were putting up dangerously on a gangway under Niger Bridge Onitsha.
The rescue operation was led on Friday by the Anambra State Commissioner for Women and Children’s Affairs, Lady Ndidi Mezue, and officials of the Social Welfare Department of the Ministry.
The exercise was following a call for urgent rescue for the duo, by an Asaba resident who plies the bridge daily enroute to his workplace in Onitsha.
Narrating how the operation happened, Lady Mezue said upon receiving the call for help, she deployed a team of social workers but they were not able to successfully rescue the girl due to the place she was staying and the risk of plunging her into the Niger.
“After days of planning and visits to the dangerous aboard of the nursing mother, I am delighted that we have successfully rescued her and her son.
“We also found a large amount of money with her. Presently, the teenage mother and her child are being taken care of in a government facility until her family comes forward to identify her,” she said.
When interrogated, the mentally deranged teen who gave her name as Ngozi, told TNC correspondent that she is an indigene of Isialangwa in Abia state and a former resident at the Onitsha Army Barracks.
