The Ketu Special Children’s Centre, a facility dedicated to catering to the needs of children with disabilities by Lagos State, has been in tatters for seven years after the government shut it down for repair.

The centre was the only such facility owned by the state. Built by ex-governor Raji Fashola’s government in 2011, the centre is in a residential neighbourhood off Ikorodu Road, some distance away from the Ketu flyover. Parents of children with special needs from various parts of the state had the opportunity to rehabilitate them there.

On two visits to the foster care facility on Monday and Friday, FIJ observed that it featured a mini stadium at the back, physiotherapy, speech and occupational therapy sections, among others.

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Two years after its commissioning, the shelter had more than 50 medical and professional caregivers with 15 special children of 2 to 30 years old, according to the Inspiring the Youths Through Motivational Speaking and Self-development Initiative (IYTMS Initiative), a non-government organisation, which visited the place on December 26, 2014.

“The conditions of the kids ranges from sickle blood cell, microscopically (head too small in proportion with the body), hydrocephalus (head too big compared with the body size), CP- cerebral palsy, this is a disorder that affects muscle tone, movement, and motor skills (the ability to move in a coordinated and purposeful way). CP is usually caused by brain damage that occurs before or during a child’s birth, or during the first 3 to 5 years of a child’s life,” the NGO wrote on its Facebook page.

“The brain damage that leads to cerebral palsy can also lead to other health issues, including vision, hearing, and speech problems, and learning disabilities. There were other conditions resulting from chromosome disorder.”

Nigeria is home to over 32 million adults and children with disabilities and this population contends with societal rejection, discrimination and unequal access to social protection services.

Until 2017 when the government shutdown it down for structural deficiency, the shelter provided succour to parents and relatives who desired to have their wards in a warm environment for professional care.

According to a resident who declined to mention his name, Akinwumi Ambode, the governor who succeeded Fashola, sanctioned the relocation of the facility to Yaba.

“Since they [government] relocated it to Yaba, this place has become empty and useless. Parents don’t bring their children here again because there is no one to attend to them,” the resident said.

“If you want to bring a child, you have to go to Yaba, where the name of the facility is still retained as ‘Ketu Special Children’s Centre’.”

To secure the place, the resident added, the government employed a guard whom he simply identified as Wale “Owes”. The watchman was not in sight when FIJ visited.

FIJ observed cracks on the walls of some of the structures at the centre. This could attest to the government’s reasons for shutting the facility down while promising a comprehensive repair.

Meanwhile, this closure occurred six years after the facility began operation, calling into question the competence and quality of the work done by the entities that handled the construction.

On August 3, 2023, the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LABSCA), designated the entire building as distressed. More than two years after, none of the buildings had been completely or partly demolished.

Over seven years after relocation, the promise of repair remains far from fulfilment.

The shelter has been turned into a mini dumpsite and denied proper care. Immediately after its gate, there was a faded waste bin, some six sacks and waste materials scattered on the ground.

The physical appearance of landscaped spaces behind the buildings had been bush burning in the not-too-distant past, an indication of abandonment by the government.

FIJ also sighted two dogs and an empty water stanchion. Some windows and ceilings had been removed. As for air conditioners, they had been removed from their wall-mounted guards.

Following a report by The Punch on December 1 detailing the human cost of leaving the facility to destruction, Mobolaji Abubakre Ogunlende, the Lagos commissioner for youth and social development, stated that the government intended to reconstruct it without mentioning when.

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“The decision to shut down Ketu Special Children’s Centre was arrived at following a thorough examination of the facility which revealed there was an absolute need for renovation, rehabilitation and restructuring to serve the purpose better,” said Ogunlende in a December 5 statement.

“Rather than jeopardise the lives of our innocent children under the guise of keeping them in a government-owned facility, we then decided to relocate them to the Children Correctional Centre for Junior Boys, Yaba, where they are getting necessary specialised care, support and services. The overarching consideration was in the best interest of the children under our watch. More than any other thing, their safety and total well-being mattered to us as a government.”

“The government is making concerted efforts to restore Ketu Special Children’s Centre to a habitable and conducive place. It is not something to be done in a hurry. There are different stages involved in it, and they are handled by different professionals. We want to do things the right way. Otherwise, we will end up putting our children in harm’s way. That will not augur well for us. That is not what we represent as leaders in government.”

This centre is located behind the Ketu Vocational Training School, a skill centre FIJ found the government had abandoned despite spending over N100 million on its construction.