Child traffickers’ new trick exposed

Organised criminal groups have started posing as civil society organisations, humanitarian workers and representatives of orphanage centres to exploit vulnerable families and gain access to children.

Saturday PUNCH gathered that the groups persuade parents to hand over their children, with some of the victims rescued from trafficking networks operating across several states.

In a recent report released on its website, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons disclosed that it rescued over 180 children allegedly trafficked from five states by criminal groups operating under the guise of civil society organisations.

The agency said the groups had been deceiving parents in different communities by posing as representatives of CSOs before taking the children away under false pretences.

Similarly, the Oyo State Police Command also announced the rescue of 17 children from an interstate child-stealing and trafficking syndicate allegedly operating across Oyo, Ogun and Delta states.

How traffickers target vulnerable families

The Civil Society Network on Migration and Development said unscrupulous individuals were increasingly masquerading as representatives of NGOs, particularly faith-based and humanitarian organisations, as well as orphanage centres, to gain access to children from indigent families.

According to the group, vulnerable families, particularly in rural communities, are often approached with promises of better education and brighter futures for their children.

A member of the national working committee of the group, Angela Okoye, while speaking with Saturday PUNCH on Thursday, said children taken under such arrangements would subsequently end up as domestic servants or house helps, sometimes working without pay.

“Children moved to distant locations away from their families and communities could become vulnerable to maltreatment, abuse, exploitation and other human rights violations,” she said.

Okoye urged NAPTIP and other security and child-protection agencies to strengthen the monitoring of organisations involved in child-focused interventions and improve their response mechanisms.

She also called on members of the public to provide timely and credible intelligence whenever they suspected child trafficking, child labour, exploitation or the suspicious movement of children under the guise of educational, religious or humanitarian interventions.

Similarly, a member of the National Working Committee of the Federation of Muslim Women Associations in Nigeria, Bilikis Oladimeji, warned that unscrupulous individuals could exploit public sympathy for trafficking victims to solicit funds.

Oladimeji, who is the founder of the Balimod Women and Child Initiative, said genuine organisations were being exposed to suspicion by individuals who presented themselves as NGOs seeking financial assistance for victims without necessarily implementing the projects for which funds were solicited.

She urged government agencies and donors to verify organisations seeking funds to assist trafficking victims.

Oladimeji also called for closer monitoring of orphanage homes to prevent children placed under institutional care from being subjected to further exploitation.

NAPTIP, police target suspicious orphanage centres

Speaking on the development, the NAPTIP spokesperson, Vincent Adekoye, said the agency had heightened its surveillance to address child trafficking and shut down some orphanage centres in parts of the country.

He said the increased surveillance had led to the rescue of some children and the sealing of some orphanage centres in Delta, Port Harcourt, the FCT and other areas based on reasonable suspicions.

Adekoye said, “We have increased our surveillance across the country and involved other actors and law enforcement agencies. We have rescued some children and sealed some orphanage centres in Delta, Port Harcourt, the FCT and other areas.

“I may not be able to tell you the exact number of facilities we have sealed, but we have shut some of them based on reasonable suspicions.

“What we do is act on credible intelligence. We follow the clue and, the moment we discover anything that we know is not proper, we act on it. The fact is that we have increased our surveillance more than before. Our operational activities have been heightened also.”

He added that the NAPTIP Director-General, Binta Adamu, had directed all the agency’s commands across the country to intensify efforts in tackling issues relating to orphanages and child trafficking.

• Help! I’ve suffered enough assault in Egypt — 20-year-old Nigerian lady
• Three arrested over child theft in Ogun
• Man bags seven years for raping minor

“Our men are everywhere in the country, sniffing everywhere to ensure that all children are protected, and that is what the Director-General wants,” Adekoye said.

Similarly, the Force Public Relations Officer, Anietie Iniedu, told Saturday PUNCH that the anti-human trafficking unit of the Force Criminal Investigation Department had been rejigged to strengthen the fight against trafficking.

He said the police were paying particular attention to orphanage centres and other facilities allegedly being used as conduits for trafficking children.

“The police are working assiduously to ensure that we get rid of this menace. We have a rejigged anti-human trafficking unit at the Force Criminal Investigation Department. We have taken the matter seriously,” Iniedu said.

Also, the spokesman for the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Babawale Afolabi, said the corps had commenced investigations based on information obtained from suspects recently paraded over alleged trafficking activities.

He, however, declined to disclose details of the investigation, saying the process was ongoing.

The NSCDC spokesman warned parents and guardians against individuals offering seemingly attractive opportunities for their children, identifying promises of a better life, free education and lucrative employment as major warning signs.

“The major red flag is a promise of Eldorado. Our parents and guardians should be very careful of people who tell tales of good things abroad or other parts of the country, asking for their children to be given to them.

“Many criminals are pretending to be NGOs and child-rights advocates with free education or lucrative jobs,” Afolabi said.

He urged Nigerians to report suspicious activities involving children, particularly cases of child labour, maltreatment and questionable orphanage operations.

Regulatory gaps expose children

A child-rights activist, Temilola Salami, said public vigilance could not be a substitute for effective regulation.

She said the country’s child-protection laws provided safeguards for children in institutional care, but enforcement remained a major challenge.

“The Child Rights Act is fairly robust on paper. The problem is enforcement. Only a few states have digitised registers.

“Most inspections don’t happen, and adoption loopholes are used by traffickers, including private fostering and fake NGOs, to bypass court adoption.

“Also, there is no national database. NAPTIP and the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development don’t share one central list of all children in institutions,” Salami said.

Another child and gender rights activist, Wilfred Ilebaye, said unregistered facilities, including alleged baby factories and faith-based homes, remained a concern in some states.

He attributed the problem partly to weak government monitoring and inadequate funding, stressing the need for stronger regulation, regular inspections and better coordination among agencies.

Also, an Abuja-based early-childhood education and illegal migration expert, Muhammed Habeeb, urged donor agencies to conduct due diligence before releasing funds to organisations claiming to support trafficking survivors.

He warned that fraudulent organisations could damage public confidence in genuine NGOs and ultimately deprive victims of much-needed assistance.

There should be “Networking, support by government, and thorough investigation by donor agencies before releasing funds to any proposal submitted to them,” Habeeb advised.

He said children who had experienced trafficking and abuse required more than immediate rescue, stressing the need for shelter, education, medical care, counselling, rehabilitation and economic empowerment.

“Psychologically, when they say such things, and they are abandoned, it won’t go away,” Habeeb said.