Imo state government has adopted the 24 rescued pregnant young girls by the security operatives in the state.
Gov. Rochas Okorocha disclosed this when officials of the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development presented the victims to the governor in Government House, Owerri.
He also approved the immediate release of the sun of N10m for the upkeep of the pregnant girls and to ensure self delivery of their babies.
Okorocha who flanked by his wife, Nneoma and members of the State Executive Council, expressed shock at the plight of the girls who claimed were taken to the center under false pretense, describing the development as morally wrong.
He appealed to parents to devise a way of accepting and handling such situations instead of chasing them away into wrong hands where they will be converted and treated baby making machines.
The governor, however, ordered the immediate closure of all illegal motherless baby homes in the state, pointing out that henceforth cases of child adoption must have his approval or that of the First Lady.
He also ordered the immediate demolition of the center where the victims were rescued at Umuaka, Njaba local council even as he condemned the ugly trend of people making money from child trafficking and other illegal means in the state.
Adding her voice, the First Lady, Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha, thanked the governor for his fatherly role in the state and assured that she would take care of the pregnant girls as directed by the governor.
Mrs. Okorocha disclosed that her office will engage a doctor that will take care of the girls to avoid complications during pregnancy and described the discovery as divine intervention towards rescuing the state from all kinds of immorality and evil-doings.
In another development, Gov. Owelle Rochas Okorocha has charged the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria and the church at large to partner with the state government in its determination to check crime especially child trafficking, illegal adoption, armed robbery and kidnapping.
He urged them to always preach against immorality and societal ills that are prevalent in the society.
Earlier in his remarks, the president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, described human life as sacred which should not be toyed with.
Kaigama who is also the Catholic Bishop of Jos, said that trafficking and baby making factory are clear cases of immorality and should not be encouraged in the society.