By Deborah Nnamdi
The Akwa Ibom chapter of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, has said that some clinics and hospitals in the state are fully engaged in organ harvesting business.
The State Zonal Coordinator of NAPTIP, Emmanuel Awhen revealed this during a press briefing in Uyo on Saturday to mark the 2025 National Human Trafficking Awareness Day with the theme “Strengthening Communities by Connecting the Dots”.
Awhen, who was represented by the Head of Public Enlightenment of the agency, Eme Ukpabio, stated that organ harvesting had become a booming trade in the state, noting that some clinics and hospitals in Akwa Ibom are engaged in the organ harvesting business.
“Organ harvesting is one thing that is very high now. You may not notice it, but some clinics in this town, with due apologies to doctors who are carrying out legitimate businesses, there are hospitals in this town that are involved in organ harvesting”.
He also stated that the agency has secured over 60 convictions with over 15 cases still pending determination in federal courts in the state.
“We have had arrests, I cannot count, the arrests that we do, we bring them to the office and when we realize that most of these cases are not human trafficking cases, we send them away. The ones that are arrested and put in our centers and charged to court are many. We have had over 60 convictions; between last year and this year, we had over 5 convictions.
“The arrest we had on organ harvesting, the person involved is not an Akwa Ibomite. So when we have such a case, we refer to the mother state where the suspect comes from. Our own is just do the job and do a referral to the command that covers the person’s state where justice will take its course,” Awhen stated.
In his remarks, the state Coordinator of the Network Against Child Trafficking, Abuse, and Labour, NACTAL, Ambassador Peace Edem, who highlighted the emotional and psychological dangers of human trafficking, called for continuous sensitization of communities against the dangers.
He said, “Different forms of human trafficking have been mentioned– sex trafficking, labor trafficking, organ trafficking, and others. The dangers associated with these dangers, first, are the physical danger, violence and abuse, forced labor, and the rest of them, then the emotional and psychological dangers.
“So, we need to also sensitize our communities against these dangers because some of them innocently go into it without knowing”
The Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mrs Eno Ime Akpan had, in her remarks, lauded the collaborative efforts of NAPTIP and NACTAL in the fight against human trafficking in the state, and commended the state governor, Umo Eno, for establishing the ministry which she noted is saddled with the responsibility of improving the dignity of humans.
