NAPTIP Rescues More Than 180 Trafficked Children and Arrests Onitsha Hospital Nurse

Nigeria’s anti-trafficking agency has rescued more than 180 children allegedly trafficked from five states and says suspected criminal groups were operating under the cover of civil society and humanitarian organisations.

The latest operation recovered three children allegedly taken from distressed families in Kajuru, Kaduna State, and moved to a high-rise private building in an affluent area of Onitsha. Investigators also recovered another child from the care of a nurse at Federal Medical Centre Onitsha, where the nurse was arrested.

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I am seriously disturbed by the activities of some persons masquerading as members of the civil society organisations, who have been fingered in several issues of child trafficking from across the country.

NAPTIP Director General Binta Bello said suspected traffickers had focused on communities devastated by insecurity and other crises. They allegedly presented themselves as organisations offering educational assistance and back-to-school programmes, then promised parents that their children would receive education and welfare support in urban centres.

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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 the children were instead trafficked and allegedly sold. She described the activities of people posing as civil society members as deeply troubling and said suspected criminals appeared to have infiltrated a sector that also includes legitimate organisations working with NAPTIP on humanitarian and counter-trafficking efforts.

The agency has begun a manhunt for people identified during its investigations. Bello challenged Nigeria’s umbrella body of civil society organisations, especially groups working on counter-trafficking, to carry out an internal investigation and an “in-house cleansing” to expose members involved in criminal activity. She said anyone found responsible would face the full force of the law.

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I want to challenge the umbrella body of the civil society organisations 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.