NAPTIP decries CSOs’ involvement in human trafficking

Human traffickers are allegedly using the credibility of civil society organizations to reach children in communities already weakened by insecurity, Nigeria’s anti-trafficking agency said.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons warned that traffickers have been entering distressed communities under the cover of educational and humanitarian programs. They reportedly promise parents that their children will return to school, then take the children away.

Vincent Adekoye, NAPTIP’s head of press and public relations, described the tactic at a joint briefing of security spokespersons in Abuja. He said traffickers were targeting communities affected by insecurity, including areas facing farmer-herder conflicts, where families may be especially vulnerable to offers of assistance.

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Traffickers also now masquerade under the umbrella of Civil Society Organisations and move to communities that are already distressed; moving to communities where you have farmer-herder crises, and promising parents that, ‘Oh, we will take your children back to school,’ under a fake back-to-school project. And from there, they harvest children, move them.

“Traffickers also now masquerade under the umbrella of Civil Society Organisations and move to communities that are already distressed; moving to communities where you have farmer-herder crises, and promising parents that, ‘Oh, we will take your children back to school,’ under a fake back-to-school project. And from there, they harvest children, move them,” Adekoye said.

NAPTIP recently rescued four children in Onitsha, Anambra State, who were allegedly trafficked from Kajuru in Kaduna State in 2023. Some were found in a high-rise building, while another was discovered in the custody of a nurse at a Federal Medical Centre in Onitsha.

The agency intends to profile civil society organizations operating in vulnerable areas, particularly community-based, faith-based and nongovernmental groups. Adekoye urged their leaders to conduct an internal cleanup, saying residents know and trust many of these organizations. He said NAPTIP had recovered 118 children allegedly trafficked from Nasarawa, Benue and three other states in Nigeria’s North-Central region.

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We have continued also to ensure that we want to profile the Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria. My DG has asked me to convey to them, the leadership of the CSOs in Nigeria, to do an in-house cleansing.