The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has rescued more than 180 children allegedly trafficked from five states by organised criminal groups operating under the guise of civil society organisations and educational support programmes.
The latest operation led to the recovery of three children allegedly trafficked from Kajuru, Kaduna state, from a high rise private building in a choice area of Onitsha, Anambra state.
Another child was also recovered from the custody of a clinical staff member at the Federal Medical Centre, Onitsha.
Blueprint reports that the development has raised fresh concerns over the activities of suspected trafficking syndicates that allegedly exploit vulnerable families in crisis ridden communities by promising to provide education and other forms of support for their children.
Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello on Monday in Abuja, expressed concern over the trend, saying some criminal groups were moving from one distressed community to another under the guise of providing educational assistance and back to school programmes.
Bello also called on the umbrella body of civil society organisations in Nigeria to conduct an internal review and cleansing of its membership to identify and expose individuals allegedly using the platform of civil society to perpetrate child trafficking.
The latest recovery followed the establishment of a Special Squad within NAPTIP’s Investigation and Monitoring Department by the Director General several months ago, following increasing reports of missing children across the country.
The squad was mandated to trace and recover trafficked children and ensure that those responsible were brought to justice.
The first batch of children recovered by the squad comprised children 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.
One of the recovered children was reunited with his father, who said the child was taken three years ago when armed men invaded his community in Kajuru.
According to the father, following the attack and displacement of residents, some individuals known to members of the community approached affected parents and offered to take their children to the city for proper education.
He said the individuals claimed to operate an NGO providing assistance to people affected by crises.
The father said he and other parents accepted the offer because they believed it would secure a better future for their children, but later discovered that they had been deceived.
He said the children were not returned during the holidays as promised, while subsequent attempts to contact those who took them away proved unsuccessful.
The father said his son was three years old when he was taken away and is now six years old.
While expressing joy over the reunion, he said he was saddened by the condition in which his son was found, alleging that the child looked unkempt and unhappy and appeared to have been used as a domestic worker.
He attributed the recovery to what he described as an act of God, saying he discovered that his son had been rescued after seeing the child’s photograph on NAPTIP’s Facebook page.
He subsequently contacted the Agency and confirmed that the child was among those recovered.
“I am overwhelmed with joy because I had initially lost hope of seeing my son,” he said, while commending the NAPTIP management and its officers for recovering the child.
Meanwhile, the nurse at the Federal Medical Centre, Onitsha, who was found with another of the recovered children, reportedly confessed that she obtained the child from an orphanage in Abuja in 2023 after paying N771,000.
NAPTIP is expected to continue investigations into the circumstances surrounding the child’s transfer and the alleged involvement of other persons and organisations in the trafficking network.
The Director General urged members of the public, particularly parents in vulnerable and crisis affected communities, to exercise caution and verify claims made by organisations offering to take custody of their children for educational or welfare purposes.
Bello stressed the need for stronger collaboration among government agencies, civil society organisations, communities, and other stakeholders to prevent the exploitation and trafficking of children.