The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has blown the whistle on a disturbing trend: criminal syndicates are now masquerading as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to snatch children from unsuspecting parents. Over 180 children have been rescued so far, with operations spanning Kaduna, Anambra, and three other states.
Vincent Adekoye, the Head of NAPTIP's Press and Public Relations Unit, stated on Monday that these groups are cunningly preying on distressed communities. They approach parents with promises of educational support or back-to-school programmes, only to traffic the children away. The DG of NAPTIP, Binta Bello, has raised serious concerns about these syndicates moving from crisis-hit areas to exploit vulnerable families.
One of the most recent recoveries, according to NAPTIP, involved three children taken from a desperate parent in Kajuru, Kaduna State. These kids were later found locked up in a private high-rise building in Onitsha, Anambra State. In a separate incident in Onitsha, another trafficked child was found in the care of a clinical staff member at the Federal Medical Centre.
To combat this menace, NAPTIP had established a Special Squad a few months back, tasked with locating trafficked children and bringing perpetrators to justice. This squad has been instrumental in these recent successes.
The first batch of rescued children had been taken from communities in Benue and Nasarawa States. NAPTIP revealed that these children were then distributed to orphanages in Abuja and other states. There, they were allegedly sold to unknown individuals under the guise of adoption, with substantial sums of money changing hands.
The father of one of the rescued children, who has since been reunited with his son, shared his harrowing experience. He explained that three years ago, during an invasion by unknown gunmen in his community in Kajuru, his family was displaced. Shortly after, some people he knew approached them, offering to take the children to the city for proper education through their NGO. He and other parents, convinced by the promises for their children's future, agreed. "We never knew that they deceived us," he lamented. "They tricked us and took our children away."
He added that when the children didn't return for holidays as expected, the promised contacts became evasive. His son, who was three at the time and is now six, was found looking unkempt and unhappy, appearing to be used as a house help. The father discovered his son's whereabouts through NAPTIP's Facebook page, where pictures of rescued children were posted. "I saw my Son among them and started chatting with NAPTIP, only to find out that my Son was indeed among them," he said, expressing immense joy mixed with sadness at seeing his child alive but clearly traumatised. He profusely thanked NAPTIP for their intervention.
In another shocking confession, the nurse at the Federal Medical Centre in Onitsha, found with one of the trafficked children, admitted to acquiring the child from a prominent Abuja-based orphanage. She paid N771,000 in 2023 for the child.
Director General Binta Adamu Bello expressed deep worry over these organised criminal groups infiltrating the humanitarian space. She called on the umbrella body for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria to conduct an internal cleansing to root out these criminal elements. "I am confident that we have very committed members of the Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria working in the humanitarian and counter – trafficking space," she stated. "But it seems that they have been infiltrated by some criminal elements whose mission is to steal and traffic children for various sorts of reasons."
NAPTIP's investigations, supported by confessions from survivors and their relatives, indicate that these criminal elements are systematically exploiting the desperation and trust of parents in vulnerable communities. The agency is committed to dismantling these networks and ensuring justice for the trafficked children.