Nigeria’s disturbing baby trafficking racket

File. A Nigerian Policeman

NIGERIA is battling so many social crises. Among them is an odious but growing practice of selling babies. Recent disturbing revelations emerging from Oyo State emphasise this anomaly. It exposes yet another concerning dimension to Nigeria’s child-protection crisis.

Indeed, criminals who are involved in stealing, buying and selling babies and young children are unleashing violence on the most vulnerable members of society and must be penalised to the full extent of the law.

Questioned by journalists recently after her arrest, a suspected member of a child-trafficking syndicate in Oyo State, Adejoke Popoola, confessed that she had sold her own biological children and those stolen from others for onward sale. This is child cruelty.

She claimed to have abducted children from churches, homes and public events, including a three-year-old boy who disappeared during a traditional festival in Oyo town. More disturbing are her claims that she sometimes posed as a spiritualist and targeted parents with children living with disabilities.

According to her account, she would deceive vulnerable families with promises of healing before stealing children. The police said their investigation led to the rescue of 17 children and the arrest of seven suspects.

The development in Oyo came against the backdrop of another child-stealing investigation in Ogun State, where three women were arrested and three children rescued.

These cases point to an organised criminal economy in which children can be treated as commodities, moved across state borders and hidden until buyers are found.

Even more troubling are allegations surrounding so-called baby factories, illegal maternity homes and orphanages being used as fronts for trafficking.

In June, the Rivers State Government shut down five hospitals and a patent medicine store over child trafficking.

Similarly, in January, the Joyful Kids Orphanage Home in Badagry, Lagos, was raided by the authorities, and the proprietor allegedly confessed to purchasing a stolen six-year-old child for N1.5 million.

This illustrates the extent to which legitimate institutions established to protect children can be abused.

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These “baby factories” are illegal human trafficking operations where young women and teenage girls are lured, held captive, or forced to become pregnant so their new-borns can be sold on the black market.

A report by DW News stated that about 200 illegal baby factories were shut down by security agencies over five years, demonstrating that the problem is persistent. The scale of missing children is equally alarming, and Nigeria cannot afford complacency.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has reported more than 24,000 missing persons in Nigeria, with children accounting for a significant proportion of the cases.

So, there should be a well-mapped-out strategy to combat these criminal networks and the reproduction industry that fuels them.

The Federal Government and state authorities must move beyond periodic raids and arrests. Investigations should target the financiers, recruiters, buyers, facilitators and corrupt officials who enable the trade.

Intelligence-sharing among the police, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, immigration authorities and state child-protection agencies must be strengthened.

The justice system must also ensure traffickers face swift and proportionate punishment when convicted. At the same time, rescued children require sustained psychological, medical and social support, while families must receive assistance in tracing missing children.

Importantly, Nigeria must reform its adoption system. Couples who genuinely wish to adopt children should not be trapped indefinitely in cumbersome bureaucratic procedures, lengthy court processes and social stigma.

A transparent and efficient adoption framework, backed by rigorous safeguards, can provide vulnerable children with safe homes and reduce the demand criminal operators exploit.

Nigeria must dismantle the underground market in babies before an already grave child-protection crisis becomes an even deeper national disgrace.