Founding of Child Life-Line In 1994 the National Commission for Mass Literacy carried out a Survey of Out-of-School Children financed by the World Bank in six states of the Federation of Nigeria.  A small group of professionals who participated in that survey were shocked by the number of children who were not only out of school but also out of their homes and living on the streets.  Determined to do something about the situation, in April 1994 they founded Child Life-Line (CLL), a charitable, non-profit-making NGO, devoted to the care and protection of destitute, deprived and abused children.

The 1995 Survey and CLL’s first six boys
Before embarking on any concrete programme members sought to know more about the street children in Lagos: where they came from, why they were on the streets and how they managed to survive.  In February 1995, with funding from UNESCO and in cooperation with the Commission for Mass Literacy, CLL carried out a Survey of Street Children in Lagos. The Survey focused on areas with markets and bus depots where the children mostly clustered. 608 children were interviewed, 20% of them girls, and during the survey CLL acquired its first street child, Ganiyu.  Gani’s left leg was already bent by an old injury and, when he was found in a tiny shack where he slept with 15 other boys, his right leg bore a huge, suppurating wound suffered in a road accident 18 months previously.  CLL obtained medical treatment for him and he  took up residence on the small verandah outside the Commission’s office, fed and cared for by CLL members.  By September 1995 Gani had been joined by five other boys, also in need of medical treatment.  An urgent appeal for facilities to accommodate them was made to the then Military Governor.

In temporary quarters
CLL was given temporary use of part of the Boys’ Remand Home at Oregun for its first Centre and in November 1995 its Welfare Officer and six boys moved in. Initially the boys were given lessons in the centre but, as the number of boys grew, it was decided in September 1997 to send the younger boys to the local government schools and to apprentice the older boys to trades of their choice in the vicinity. By February 1998 the number of CLL boys had risen to 18 and the Lagos State Ministry of Social Welfare asked us to leave the remand home in order to make room for an increasing number of boys on remand.  The Centre was then moved to a rented bungalow, still in Oregun, but it was obvious that CLL urgently needed premises of its own.

Our own facilities at last!
A saviour was sent to CLL in the person of Chief B. O. Benson, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who, in the year 2000 freely donated 2 acres of land at Ibeshe, Ikorodu, on which the present Centre is built.  By July 2001 the House Master and his Assistant moved into the only complete building, the dormitory, with 24 boys. Life was tough.  The compound could (and can) only be reached by a half kilometer of bush path and it was the middle of the rainy season.  Moreover, although they had a bore-hole for water, there was no electric power for the best part of a year and both the school-boys and apprentices had a long walk to reach their schools or workshops.  Nevertheless, none of the boys sought to return to the street and today they form a group of very fine young men. 

CLL Facilities To-day
To-day, thanks to our faithful and generous donors, we have a kitchen and dining-hall block, two staff bungalows and a temporary vocational workshop for basketry and carpentry.  The centre is not only linked to the national grid, it also has a 27kv generator to compensate for the erratic national power supply.

Future Development
Future developments planned for the centre include a second dormitory, (which will double the possible intake), an administration block with library and small conference room, permanent vocational workshops and a concrete pond for fish farming.