Homeless boy dumped by brother during lockdown slumps in Jos

A Central Nigerian teenager, Thursday slumped in Jos, the capital of Plateau State, likely due to excessive hunger, after staying seven days without food.

Godfrey Santhus, 11, was, last week Wednesday, taken to Jos from his home village, Shisheri, in Langtang North Local Government Area, by his now vanished elder brother, with a promise to be taken to his divorced mother in Abuja.

He was, according to him, abandoned in Dadin Kowa, a suburb in Jos South Local Government Area, hours before the State lockdown against Coronavirus started.

Homeless, Godfrey roamed helplessly from one unfamiliar street to another, feeding mostly on discarded food remnants in waste bins.

“The streets were dry and I didn’t see anyone to beg for food,” said Godfrey in Hausa.

He was according to a vigilante officials found unconscious in a hidden veranda, at about midnight on Wednesday 15th April, 2020, when State Officials relaxed the lockdown.

Godfrey was rushed to a Government hospital in Dadin Kowa and placed on life support machine and drips until Friday morning when he regained consciousness.

With his father also on admission in an unknown hospital in Jos, the likely school dropout might have no one to foot his bills.

Currently, only vigilante officials have been feeding him in the hospital, but no commitment has been made regarding the medical bills.

State government officials have however been notified of the plight of the likely out of school child.