The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has uncovered a suspected child trafficking network which allegedly used an orphanage to sell children in Enugu State.
NAPTIP, in a statement posted on its Facebook page on Wednesday, said it rescued two minors who were sold under the pretext of care arrangement.
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The agency said its operatives arrested a man simply identified as Thaddeus, a 51-year-old suspect who allegedly sold the two minors to his uncle, Elies.
NAPTIP said the rescue of children and arrest of the suspect by its operatives followed a tip-off about the activities of the trafficking network in the area.
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“The children, whose identities are being protected, are currently in safe custody receiving necessary care and support in line with the agency’s victim protection protocols,” it said.
The agency said the case raises serious concerns about the exploitation of vulnerable minors under the guise of care arrangements in Nigeria.
It did not reveal the identity of the orphanage linked to the trafficking and the specific community in Enugu State where the incident happened.
Investigation
NAPTIP assured that investigations were ongoing to uncover the “full extent of the trafficking network” and ensure that all those culpable were prosecuted.
The agency urged Nigerians to remain vigilant and report to them any suspicious activities linked to human trafficking in their neighbourhood.
Orphanages, sometimes used as “baby factories,’” have been linked to the increasing cases of child trafficking in South-east Nigeria.
The term baby factory refers to a facility where traffickers hold women, mostly teenagers, against their will, rape and force them to get pregnant.
The newborns at the facility are then sold illegally to adoptive parents.
Girls in such a facility are sometimes forced into child labour and prostitution.
A 2023 investigation by the Foundation for Investigative Journalism uncovered how a supposed Christian orphanage in Anambra State, another state in the South-east, was illegally selling babies between N1.5 million and N2 million, depending on a baby’s gender.
The investigation also revealed how the sales were executed with the collusion of some Nigerian police officers and officials of the judiciary.
In 2015, Nigeria enacted the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act which outlawed all acts of human trafficking in the country.
The Act prescribes a minimum penalty of between five and 10 years imprisonment and a fine of N1 million for the trafficking of children, depending on the purpose of such trafficking.
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Several people have been convicted of child trafficking across the country.
The Kano State High Court, in July 2021, sentenced a man, Paul Owne, to 91 years in prison for kidnapping and trafficking of children in the state for sale in Onitsha, Anambra State.
A Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt, River State, in 2019, sentenced three persons to a combined 12 years imprisonment for trafficking a two-year-old male child and one other child.
