How a Fake NGO Sold Dreams and Trafficked 180 Children — NAPTIP Uncovers Syndicate

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has rescued more than 180 children allegedly trafficked from five states by criminal syndicates posing as civil society organisations, arresting a nurse at FMC Onitsha who confessed to paying N771,000 for a child obtained from an Abuja orphanage.

ValidViewNetwork gathered that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has rescued more than 180 children allegedly trafficked from five states across Nigeria by suspected criminal syndicates operating under the guise of civil society organisations.

How the Syndicate Operated

According to NAPTIP, suspected trafficking syndicates allegedly move from one crisis-ridden community to another, offering educational support and back-to-school programmes as a means of gaining the confidence of vulnerable families before taking away their children.

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Father of one of the rescued children, whose name was withheld, said his family was displaced three years ago when gunmen invaded his community in Kajuru, Kaduna State.

“Afterwards, some individuals who claimed to be running an NGO approached some displaced families and offered to take their children to the city for proper education. The parents agreed, believing that the arrangement would secure a better future for their children, but later discovered that they had been deceived,” he said.

Arrest at FMC Onitsha

The operation also led to the arrest of a nurse at the Federal Medical Centre, Onitsha, Anambra State, who was allegedly found in possession of one of the trafficked children.

The nurse confessed that she obtained the child from a prominent orphanage in Abuja in 2023 after paying N771,000.

NAPTIP’s Response

Binta Bello, NAPTIP Director-General, expressed concern over the alleged involvement of individuals masquerading as members of civil society organisations in child trafficking.

She called on the umbrella body of civil society organisations in Nigeria to carry out an internal cleansing and expose suspected criminal elements within their ranks.

The first batch of rescued children comprised youngsters allegedly taken from communities in Benue and Nasarawa states.

Some of the children were subsequently distributed to orphanages in Abuja and other states, where they were allegedly sold to unidentified individuals under the guise of adoption after substantial sums of money had been paid.