...Nurse Allegedly Paid N771,000 To Abuja Orphanage For Rescued Child
…Children Allegedly Taken Away Under Guise Of Educational Support After Community Attack
Daud Olatunji
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has rescued more than 180 children allegedly trafficked from five states by suspected criminal syndicates operating under the guise of civil society organisations.
NAPTIP also arrested a nurse at the Federal Medical Centre, Onitsha, Anambra State, after one of the rescued children was allegedly found in her custody.
The agency said the suspected trafficking networks had been exploiting insecurity and humanitarian crises to gain the confidence of distressed families, particularly in communities affected by attacks and displacement.
According to NAPTIP, the suspects allegedly approached parents with promises to take their children to cities for education and other forms of support, only to cut off contact with the families after taking the children away.
The latest operation resulted in the recovery of three children allegedly taken from Kajuru, Kaduna State, and found in a high-rise private building in Onitsha.
Another child was recovered from the custody of the clinical staff member at the Federal Medical Centre, Onitsha.
The development was contained in a statement issued on Monday by NAPTIP’s Head of Press and Public Relations, Vincent Adekoye.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, expressed concern over the alleged involvement of persons masquerading as members of civil society organisations in child trafficking.
Bello said the agency’s investigations and accounts from survivors and their relatives indicated that some suspected traffickers had infiltrated humanitarian and civil society activities to prey on vulnerable families.
She said, “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.”
The NAPTIP boss, however, stressed that genuine civil society organisations remained important partners in the fight against human trafficking.
She said some criminal elements appeared to have infiltrated the sector and were allegedly using the names and platforms of reputable organisations to gain the trust of families.
“It seems that they have been infiltrated by some criminal elements whose mission is to steal and traffic children for various forms of reasons,” Bello said.
She explained that the suspected traffickers allegedly targeted security-challenged communities, where parents were more vulnerable because of displacement, poverty and the disruption of normal family life.
“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,” she said.
“They take away their children in the name of educational support, and disappear into thin air with the children. These children are later sold allegedly to the highest bidders.”
Bello described the alleged practice as particularly cruel because it compounded the trauma suffered by families already affected by insecurity.
“This is criminal, and it is a direct way of adding more sorrow to already traumatised families,” she said.
…Father Finds Son After tLThree yLYears
One of the rescued children was reunited with his father after about three years.
The father, whose name was withheld, said his son was only three years old when gunmen attacked their community in Kajuru, forcing families to flee.
He said that shortly after the attack, some people, including persons known to the community, approached displaced families and offered to take their children to the city for proper education.
According to him, the suspects claimed to be running an NGO that assisted people affected by crises.
“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 the parents became suspicious when the children failed to return home during the holidays.
He said attempts to obtain information about their whereabouts were unsuccessful, adding that those who had taken the children continued to give them excuses before eventually disappearing.
His son, he said, was three years old when he was taken away and is now six.
The father said he eventually discovered that his son had been rescued by NAPTIP after seeing the child’s photograph on the agency’s Facebook page.
“I am overwhelmed with joy because I had initially lost hope of seeing my son,” he said.
He added, “I saw my son among them and started chatting with NAPTIP, only to find out that my son was indeed among them.”
The father expressed gratitude to NAPTIP for recovering his child.
“This is just like a dream. I am happy,” he said.
…Nurse Allegedly Paid N771,000
Meanwhile, the nurse arrested in Onitsha allegedly told investigators that she obtained the child from an orphanage in Abuja in 2023.
NAPTIP said the nurse admitted paying N771,000 for the child.
The agency did not disclose the name of the orphanage.
The arrest forms part of a wider operation launched by NAPTIP following reports of missing children across the country.
The Director-General had earlier established a special squad within the agency’s Investigation and Monitoring Department to trace and recover children allegedly trafficked by criminal networks and bring those responsible to justice.
NAPTIP said the first batch of children recovered by the squad were allegedly taken from communities in Benue and Nasarawa states.
The children were reportedly moved to orphanages in Abuja and other states, where they were allegedly sold to unidentified individuals under the guise of adoption after substantial sums of money had been paid.
….NAPTIP Begins Manhunt
Bello said the agency had commenced a manhunt for persons identified during its investigations and vowed to ensure that those found culpable faced prosecution.
She also challenged the umbrella body of civil society organisations in Nigeria to investigate suspected criminal elements within its ranks.
“I want to challenge the umbrella body of the Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria, especially those working closely with us in the counter-trafficking space, to carry out in-house cleansing and expose those suspected to be criminal elements among them. They must be flushed out,” Bello said.
She added, “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.”
NAPTIP said investigations were ongoing to identify other members of the alleged trafficking networks and recover more children who may have been separated from their families.
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