The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has dismantled a large-scale child trafficking network with the arrest of a 60-year-old prominent Benue-based orphanage operator and founder of the National Council of Child Rights Advocates of Nigeria (NACCRAN).
According to a statement issued by NAPTIP’s Director-General, Binta Bello, the suspect—who is also a leading member of the orphanage owners’ umbrella body in Nigeria—was apprehended by operatives of the agency’s Makurdi Command following a credible intelligence report.
The operation led to the rescue of 26 children out of more than 300 allegedly trafficked and sold across orphanages in Benue, Enugu, Lagos, Nasarawa, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. Efforts are currently underway to locate and recover about 274 other children believed to be victims of the syndicate.
Bello disclosed that a 34-year-old woman and two other orphanage operators based in Abuja and Nasarawa were also arrested in connection with the case.
“It is painful that some unpatriotic elements use their positions to deceive vulnerable people in crisis-prone communities, trafficking their children and selling them under the guise of adoption without valid consent. Our children are not commodities to be displayed in orphanages and sold to the highest bidders. This must stop,” Bello stated.
According to NAPTIP, children aged between one and thirteen were trafficked to orphanages in Abuja and Nasarawa, where they were sold under false adoption arrangements for sums ranging from N1 million to N3 million each.
The agency explained that the operation stemmed from a complaint received on May 1, 2025, involving a father whose four-year-old son was allegedly given to an NGO by his mother-in-law without his consent. When he demanded the return of his child, he was told he could only see him after three years, prompting an investigation that eventually exposed the wider child trafficking network.
A complainant, whose identity remains protected for legal reasons, revealed that he paid N2.8 million as an adoption fee and an additional N100,000 consultancy fee to a member of the syndicate posing as an orphanage representative.
Preliminary investigations further revealed that the traffickers targeted families in rural areas, particularly in conflict-affected communities across Benue’s Guma Local Government Area, including Daudu, Yelwata, and Ngban. Under the guise of running a “Back to School Project,” the suspects allegedly lured parents into signing consent forms, believing their children were being enrolled for education.
NAPTIP has since placed several orphanage homes in Abuja under surveillance as investigations continue to uncover the full extent of the trafficking ring.
Describing the discovery as “unbelievable and mind-boggling,” Bello vowed that those arrested would face the full wrath of the law, stressing that child trafficking in any form would not be tolerated.
