The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has arrested a 60-year-old prominent member of the Orphanage Owners Umbrella body in Nigeria and founder of an internationally recognised civil society organisation, the National Council of Child’s Right Advocates of Nigeria (NACRAN), based in Benue State, (name withheld), in connection with an alleged large-scale case of child trafficking, child sale, and illegal adoption.
In a major breakthrough led by operatives of the Agency, Markudi Command, the Agency rescued 26 children out of the over 300 suspected to have been trafficked and sold to different persons within Benue, Enugu, Lagos, Nasarawa, and Abuja, while about 274 others are still being traced, as investigations intensify to unravel the full extent of the syndicate’s activities.
Also arrested with the suspect is a suspected 34-year-old female accomplice and two other orphanage operators in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and Nasarawa State, where some allegedly trafficked children were recovered.
The sad development came barely a few weeks after the Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello OON, expressed concern over the unwholesome activities of some operators of orphanages in Nigeria and called on the various state ministries of women’s affairs to beam searchlights on the centres to checkmate their operations.
The latest operation by the agency was a continuation of the renewed crackdown on orphanages and care homes across the country ordered by the Director General of NAPTIP following a series of reported cases of alleged infractions and illegal activities by the operators of the orphanages.
Detail of the case indicates that on 1st May 2025, a complaint was lodged by a man who reported that his four-year-old son was given out by his mother-in-law to an NGO without his consent. When he demanded the return of his child, he was told he could only see him after three years.
This prompted a petition to NAPTIP, leading to the arrest of several suspects and the uncovering of a wider network involved in trafficking and illegal adoption of children.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects feasted on the vulnerability of the rural communities in Benue State through a voodoo initiative called “Back to School Project” to recruit children from crisis-ridden communities in Guma LGA, especially in areas affected by farmer–herder conflicts such as Daudu, Yelwata, and Ngban, and trafficked them to Abuja, Nasarawa, Enugu, and Lagos States.
The suspects organised meetings with villagers and traditional leaders, convincing them that the project would sponsor children’s education. Parents were deceived into signing consent forms or verbally agreeing to release their children, with promises that they would see them again after three years. Over 300 children were reportedly handed over to the suspects. Some parents were unaware or did not sign any consent forms.
The children, aged between one and thirteen years, were transported to orphanage homes in Abuja and Nasarawa States, where they were allegedly sold to interested couples under the guise of adoption for amounts ranging from ₦1 million to ₦3 million per child.
Some of the orphanages identified were used as holding centres where children awaited “adoption” or sale.
Four orphanage homes located at Kaigini, Kubuwa Motorway, Abuja; Masaka Area 1, Mararaba, by Abaca Road; and Mararaba, behind the International Market, have been linked to the syndicate and are currently under investigation.
One complainant alleged that he paid ₦2.8 million as an adoption fee and a ₦100,000 consultancy fee to a member of the syndicate.
The identities of many rescued children had been changed, complicating tracing efforts.
Speaking on the development, the Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, described the situation as unbelievable and mind-boggling.
She said, “Arising from the case at hand, I wish to say that issues of child trafficking and adoption are becoming a national crisis that requires urgent attention from all relevant stakeholders.
“A few weeks ago, based on credible intelligence, I expressed concern and alerted the State Ministries of Women Affairs to the unpatriotic and illegal activities of some orphanage operators across the country.
“It is painful that some unpatriotic elements with recognised entities and status now use their social class to deceive the already vulnerable people in the crisis-prone communities, traffic their children, most of whom narrowly escape death in the wake of communal or farmer–herder clashes, and sell them to challenged parents in the name of adoption without the valid legal consent of the parents.
“This is unacceptable, and those already arrested in connection with this wicked act shall be made to face the full wrath of the law.
“Our children are not commodities to be displayed in orphanages and sold at will to the highest bidders. This must stop,” the NAPTIP boss fumes.
