NAPTIP Prosecuting Woman for Selling 120 Children, DG Tells Senate

*Expresses readiness to fight trafficking in persons with modern Techs, Trends

Sunday Aborisade and Michael Olugbode in Abuja

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) told the Senate Committee on Special Duties, yesterday, that it was prosecuting a woman who was arrested for selling over 120 children

The agency also said it had no tracking machine in its 20 years of existence. The Director-General of NAPTIP, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, stated this when she appeared before the Senate panel to defend its 2024 budget.

Waziri-Azi said apart from the prosecution of the woman whose name she didn’t disclose, said they are also investigating a lot of fake orphanages and those who use fake documents to run organizations they are using to traffic children.
In another development, NAPTIP also said it is ever ready to evolve modern technologies and practices to fight growing incidences of trafficking in persons in the country.

NAPTIP D-G said this, Thursday, during the Official Launch of the NAPTIP-IPA Collaborative Project titled “Promoting Evidence-Based Anti-Trafficking Efforts in Nigeria.”
Her words: “This collaborative venture between NAPTIP and IPA marks a pivotal shift towards strategic and informed interventions, setting the stage for a more impactful and nuanced approach in our ongoing fight against human trafficking, generously supported by the US Department of State Program to End Modern Day Slavery.”

Meanwhile, in her Senate appearance, Prof. Waziri-Azi said, “We are currently prosecuting a woman who has sold over 120 children. Young girls are lured into baby making where they are camped in houses and they sleep with different men,” Fatima said, adding that human traffickers have capitalized on the japa syndrome and are now exploiting Nigerians.

“We have 32 offices in the country. We don’t have offices in Kogi, Niger and Bauchi States and we spent a lot from our shelters.
“We feed the victims, cloth them, provide support, trace their families and also help in repatriation.”
Waziri-Azi said, adding that 20,200 victims have received support.

She said there were a lot of rescued victims in Lagos, Katsina, Kano and Abuja with Benue having the highest number of rescued victims.
Waziri-Azi said NAPTIP has secured 639 convictions in 20 years adding that in 2021 alone, they received 1,232 human trafficking complaints.
“Every State in Nigeria is faced with trafficking especially Jigawa, Kano, Katsina. Before, it was Edo State,” Fatima said, adding that they have always relied on donors to fund their activities, which is inadequate.  We are supporting 32 victims in school with additional 21 in university.

“We existed for 20 years, but we don’t have a tracking device. We rely on Interpol, DSS for the machines we use in tracking,” Waziri-Azi added.

On the cases of baby factories, Fatima said the issue is so pervasive adding that just this year alone, in collaboration with the Nigerian Army and the Nigerian Navy, they combed a number of baby factories.

According to her, “I know we did one in Anambra; we did another one in Rivers State. But they pop up everywhere and they are predominant in mostly the South-South part and South-East part of Nigeria.

“Currently, we are prosecuting a woman who sold about a hundred and forty-something children in two years. We also are working with a group of parents whose children were stolen from different communities in Nasarawa State.

“Some of these children we are still working on recovering them. In fact, there’s a young boy, he’s called Daniel. Daniel should be three years old now.

“He was rescued, I think, probably at the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022, I don’t remember.

“When he was rescued, two families came up and said, this little child was their child, and we were forced to conduct a DNA test, and none of it matched at our shelter.

“These are the kind of cases that we see every day. We are currently investigating a lot of fake orphanages, a lot of people who go and forge documents and deceive people who really want to adopt children.

“So this is a situation that we are aware of and this is a situation that we know as an agency we can tackle on our own, which is why we are working with the Nigerian Armed Forces, DSS, and the police.

“We are collaborating with everyone because even though under the Trafficking in Persons Act, it does not categorically provide for baby factories, but we have a crime against buying and selling of children.

“Baby factories fit in nicely into that and sometimes people just think that people leave their children on the streets and probably maybe they get stolen or young girls decide to be baby-making machines.

“We have a situation where young girls are lured under the guise of being offered a job. When you go there, they of course take your phones, they lock you up in a room and consistently different men come every day to rape you until you get pregnant.

“Once you give birth, they take that child. Just very recently, a few months ago, we got information of a Nigerian woman who was living in Jabi Park.

“She was living in a box and this is a woman who was completely out of her mind. Even though sometimes the brief interaction that we had with her, she has lucid intervals but largely most times in the day, you know, she’s completely out of her mind.

“At the time she was rescued, she was six months pregnant and that was her third pregnancy. So what happens is at night different men come and sleep with her. She gets pregnant, and once she gives birth, they take the child away.

“We are able to locate her family in Cross River or Akwa Ibom and she was reunited with her family.

“For years, her family didn’t even know where she was. So these are the kind of things that we see.”

At the NAPTIP-IPA Collaborative Project launch, Prof. Waziri-Azi noted that: “What makes this project particularly exciting is its emphasis on evidence-based anti-trafficking efforts—a methodology that provides a solid foundation for a comprehensive, efficient, and impactful response to the multifaceted challenges posed by human trafficking.

“It empowers stakeholders with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions, ultimately contributing to the eradication of this heinous crime.”

Waziri-Azi said: “Human trafficking is an intricate and pervasive issue that demands our unwavering attention. To address this challenge effectively, we must continue to understand the ever-evolving landscape we are dealing with. This understanding cannot rely solely on intuition or assumptions; it must be grounded in evidence.”

She revealed that: “Over the last five years, we’ve witnessed an alarming transformation in the landscape of human trafficking in Nigeria. It’s no longer confined to its conventional, familiar form.

“Traffickers have expanded their operations, infiltrating the online sphere as much as the offline world. And this shift has brought forth new and unsettling trends that are reshaping the human trafficking ecosystem, compelling us to revolutionize our strategies in response to these disturbing developments.

“Human trafficking is not just a statistic. It is the faces, the stories, and the hopes of those who suffer. We must understand its intricacies—how it thrives in the shadows, exploiting desperation and despair. We must recognize that behind every case, there is a human face.

“And Data emerges as our most potent weapon in this fight. It reveals patterns, highlights vulnerabilities, and guides our interventions. A data-driven approach empowers us to identify high-risk areas, understand trafficking routes, and recognize the specific vulnerabilities of different demographics. By harnessing the power of data, we move beyond anecdotal evidence to create targeted and impactful solutions.”

She recalled that NAPTIP and IPA joined forces to strengthen the data collection, analysis, and research capacity of NAPTIP through the use of verifiable data in public policy making, stressing that: “In collaboration, NAPTIP brings its policy expertise, data, and information for policy-making, while IPA contributes its data collection, analysis, and evidence generation expertise that would improve the effectiveness of counter-trafficking programmes in Nigeria.”

Waziri-Azi noted that the ultimate goal of the collaboration is to empower NAPTIP to use data and rigorous research to design, test and scale evidence-based programmes and policies resulting in a significant, measurable reduction in the prevalence of human trafficking in Nigeria.

She insisted that “promoting evidence-based anti-trafficking efforts is not an option; it is an imperative. And our commitment to this cause must permeate every aspect of our strategies—from prevention to prosecution, from awareness campaigns to victim support.”

On her part, the Country Representative of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Funmilayo Ayeni while noting that human and sex trafficking issues relate to poverty, said there is an urgent need to address post economic exploitation, sexual exploitation, child labour, servitude and modern day slavery.

She noted that through this project which is funded through the Program to End Modern Slavery in the US Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, IPA will support, the Nigerian government to reduce human trafficking by establishing a Human Trafficking Embedded Evidence Lab- a permanent infrastructure that will equip NAPTIP to develop and deliver more effective, evidence-based policies and programmes to combat sex trafficking.

 She added this lab aims to support the institutionalization of a culture of evidence-bases decision-making by mapping administrative data, working side-by-side with NAPTIP teams and partners on capacity building, and evaluating innovations in human trafficking policies.