NAPTIP alleges CSOs used as fronts for child trafficking

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has alleged that criminal syndicates are increasingly using civil society organizations as fronts to traffic children from vulnerable communities across Nigeria. The agency issued the warning on Tuesday during a joint press briefing of security spokespersons in Abuja. According to NAPTIP, traffickers are targeting communities affected by insecurity, such as farmer-herder conflicts, by posing as representatives of non-governmental organizations. They offer parents promises of free education, food, and accommodation under fake "back-to-school" projects, only to harvest and traffic the children. Vincent Adekoye, the Head of Press and Public Relations for NAPTIP, stated that the agency has recovered 118 children trafficked from communities in Nasarawa, Benue, and three other states in the North Central region. A recent operation in Onitsha, Anambra State, led to the rescue of four children who had been trafficked from Kajuru in Kaduna State in 2023. Some were found in a high-rise building, while one was recovered from a nurse at a Federal Medical Centre.