Traffickers pose as NGOs to traffic children, NAPTIP warns

Human traffickers are increasingly disguising themselves as civil society organisations, entering distressed communities with promises of help and taking children away, Nigeria’s anti-trafficking agency has warned.

Vincent Adekoye, head of press and public relations at the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, said traffickers were exploiting communities affected by insecurity, including farmer-herder conflicts. They allegedly present themselves as representatives of NGOs and offer to return children to school through fake back-to-school projects.

“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.

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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.

He spoke in Abuja on Tuesday at a joint briefing for security spokespersons. Adekoye said NAPTIP had recently rescued four children in Onitsha, Anambra State, who were allegedly trafficked from Kajuru in Kaduna State in 2023. Some were recovered from a high-rise building, while another was found in the custody of a nurse at a Federal Medical Centre in Onitsha.

The agency plans to profile civil society organisations, especially community-based and faith-based groups operating in vulnerable areas. Adekoye called on the leadership of Nigerian CSOs to carry out an internal clean-up, saying local organisations often have the community’s trust and can therefore be used by criminals to reach families already affected by crisis.

“As of last count, we have recovered 118 of such children from those that were trafficked from Nasarawa and from Benue, and three other states within the North Central,” he said. NAPTIP urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and report suspicious organisations seeking to take children from their families.

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As of last count, we have recovered 118 of such children from those that were trafficked from Nasarawa and from Benue, and three other states within the North Central.