NAPTIP Rescues 118 Children Trafficked From North-Central Communities

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has disclosed that 118 children allegedly trafficked from Nasarawa, Benue and three other North-Central states have been rescued.

The agency also raised concerns over the alleged use of civil society organisations (CSOs) as fronts by traffickers to gain the trust of vulnerable communities and remove children from their families.

Head of Press and Public Relations, NAPTIP, Vincent Adekoye, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at a joint press briefing of security spokespersons.

Adekoye said traffickers were increasingly targeting communities affected by insecurity, including areas experiencing farmer-herder conflicts, by posing as representatives of non-governmental organisations and offering assistance to distressed families.

He explained that some of the traffickers had been using fake educational and humanitarian programmes as a means of gaining access to children.

“Traffickers also now masquerade under the umbrella of Civil Society Organisations and move to communities that are already distressed… 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 said.

According to him, NAPTIP recently rescued four children in Onitsha, Anambra State, who were allegedly trafficked from Kajuru in Kaduna State in 2023.

He said some of the children were found in a high-rise building, while another was recovered from the custody of a nurse at a Federal Medical Centre in Onitsha.

Adekoye said the agency was moving to profile CSOs operating in vulnerable communities, particularly community-based and faith-based organisations, to prevent traffickers from exploiting the trust they enjoy among residents.

He urged CSOs to conduct internal checks to ensure that criminal elements did not infiltrate their operations or use their platforms to facilitate trafficking.

“We have continued also to ensure that we want to profile the Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria,” Adekoye said, adding that the NAPTIP Director-General had asked CSO leaders to undertake an “in-house cleansing”.

He explained that community-based and faith-based organisations were particularly vulnerable to exploitation because residents often trusted people associated with them.

The NAPTIP spokesman appealed to Nigerians to remain vigilant and promptly report suspicious organisations or individuals seeking to take children away from their families.

“As at 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. So, we are appealing to Nigerians to be watchful. When you see them, please contact NAPTIP,” he said.

Beyond community-based recruitment, Adekoye said traffickers were also increasingly using social media and attractive employment offers to lure Nigerians abroad.

He disclosed that the agency rescued 16 young Nigerian men from Thailand in July after they were allegedly recruited with promises of lucrative jobs.

According to him, traffickers often make the offers appear legitimate by arranging travel documents, transportation and other logistics for prospective victims.

“From beginning, it looks so real to them that they have no reason at all to doubt,” he said, noting that some victims later became stranded and contacted NAPTIP for assistance.

Adekoye said the experiences of some of those rescued showed the severity of the conditions they encountered abroad, with some allegedly coming close to death.

The agency’s warning underscores the changing methods used by trafficking networks, which are increasingly combining the credibility of trusted community organisations with the reach of digital platforms to identify and recruit vulnerable Nigerians.