NAPTIP Rescues Over 180 Trafficked Children In Kaduna, Anambra, Three Other States

Operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) have rescued more than 180 children allegedly trafficked from crisis-affected communities across Kaduna, Anambra, Benue, Nasarawa and other states.

NAPTIP disclosed this in a statement by its Head of Press and Public Relations Unit, Vincent Adekoye, on Monday, raising the alarm over the activities of suspected trafficking syndicates operating under the guise of civil society organisations.

The agency said the latest operation led to the recovery of three children allegedly trafficked from a distressed parent in Kajuru, Kaduna State, who were found in a high-rise private building in a choice area of Onitsha, Anambra State.

Another trafficked child was also reportedly found in the custody of a clinical staff member at the Federal Medical Centre, Onitsha.

According to NAPTIP, the suspected traffickers have been moving from one crisis-ridden community to another, deceiving parents with promises of educational support and back-to-school programmes.

The agency said the development prompted its Director General, Binta Adamu Bello, to establish a Special Squad within the Investigation and Monitoring Department to trace missing children, rescue those trafficked and ensure that their abductors face prosecution.

NAPTIP said the first batch of rescued children were reportedly taken from communities in Benue and Nasarawa states before being distributed to orphanages in Abuja and other states.

“These children were distributed to orphanages in Abuja and other states, where they were sold to unidentified individuals under the guise of adoption, after substantial amounts of money were paid,” the agency said.

One of the rescued children, who was three years old when he was taken from Kajuru and is now six, was reunited with his father after the recovery operation.

The father said he had lost hope of finding his son until he came across photographs of rescued children on NAPTIP’s Facebook page.

“I am overwhelmed with joy because I had initially lost hope of seeing my Son,” he said, recalling how suspected traffickers allegedly approached displaced families in Kajuru after an attack on the community.

According to him, the suspects claimed to operate an NGO that assisted people affected by crises and offered to take children to the city for better education.

“I and some other parents were convinced, and since it has to do with the future of our children, we allowed them to take them away. We never knew that they deceived us. They tricked us and took our children away,” he said.

The father said his son was later discovered to have been allegedly used as a house help.

“This my Son was three years old then, and now he is six years old. It is a mixture of joy and sadness for me because he looks very unkempt, unhappy, and it appears that he is being used as house help. On the other hand, I am happy that I am seeing him alive,” he said.

He credited the recovery to divine intervention and thanked NAPTIP for reuniting him with his son.

“How it happened was the pure act of God. I was directed to the Facebook page of NAPTIP where it was published that some children were recovered and their pictures were published. I saw my Son among them and started chatting with NAPTIP, only to find out that my Son was indeed among them,” he said.

“I thank the Director General of NAPTIP and the gallant Officers of the Agency for rescuing my Son. This is just like a dream. I am happy,” he added.

NAPTIP also disclosed that the nurse at the Federal Medical Centre, Onitsha, who was found with another trafficked child confessed to obtaining the child from a prominent orphanage in Abuja in 2023 after paying N771,000.

Reacting to the development, Bello expressed concern over the growing activities of suspected trafficking syndicates allegedly disguising themselves as members of civil society organisations.

“I am seriously disturbed by the activities of some persons masquerading as members of the Civil Society Organizations, who have been fingered in several issues of child trafficking from across the Country,” Bello said.

She, however, acknowledged the contribution of genuine CSOs working in humanitarian and anti-trafficking activities, saying criminal elements appeared to have infiltrated some organisations.

“I am confident that we have very committed members of the Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria working in the humanitarian and counter – trafficking space. But it seems that they have been infiltrated by some criminal elements whose mission is to steal and traffic children for various forms of reasons,” she said.

Bello said investigations by NAPTIP, alongside accounts from survivors and their relatives, showed that the suspected criminals allegedly exploit the names of prominent CSOs to gain the confidence of parents in insecure communities.

“From the various confessions of survivors and their relations as well as the investigation by NAPTIP, these criminal elements often use the platform of prominent and popular Civil Society Organizations to lure and deceive parents from security-challenged communities and villages, take away their children in the name of educational support, and disappear into thin air with the children,” she said.

She alleged that the children were subsequently sold to people willing to pay for them.

“This is criminal, and it is a direct way of adding more sorrow to already traumatised families,” Bello said.

The NAPTIP director general challenged the umbrella body of CSOs in Nigeria to investigate and expose suspected criminal elements operating under their platform.

“On our own part, we have commenced a manhunt for those mentioned in our investigation, and we shall ensure that they are made to face the full wrath of the Law,” Bello added.