in Nigeria – What We Know

Absolutely. I would make that historical shift an important part of the introduction, while avoiding the impression that baby factories originated exclusively in the South-East.
Here is a stronger version of the feature:
BABY FACTORIES: From South-East strongholds to a spreading South-West network
How Nigeria’s child-selling business has moved beyond its traditional heartland — and how traffickers are changing their methods
For years, the phrase “baby factory” in Nigeria was almost synonymous with the South-East.
Abia, Anambra, Imo and Enugu repeatedly dominated media reports of facilities where pregnant teenagers and vulnerable women were housed until delivery, after which their babies were allegedly taken away and sold. Academic studies of cases reported between 2004 and 2017 found a particularly heavy concentration of exposed facilities in the South-East. �
Sage Journals +1
Some of the reported operations were disguised as maternity homes, orphanages, foundations and other legitimate-looking institutions. In one documented chronology, Enugu recorded a suspected baby factory operating under the guise of a maternity home as far back as 2004, while large numbers of pregnant girls were rescued from suspected facilities in Abia and Anambra in subsequent years. �
Sage Journals
The South-East consequently acquired a grim reputation as the traditional heartland of Nigeria’s baby-factory phenomenon.
But the geography of the crime appears to be changing.
Recent police operations and investigations point to a disturbing spread across the South-West — from Lagos and Ogun to Ondo and Oyo — while the methods used by suspected traffickers appear to be becoming more decentralised and sophisticated.
The “baby factory” is no longer necessarily a single secret compound filled with pregnant girls.
Increasingly, it can look like a network.
From the South-East to the South-West
The difference between the old and emerging models is striking.
The traditional model often involved a physical facility where pregnant women or teenage girls were recruited, confined or accommodated until they gave birth. The babies were then allegedly transferred to buyers through intermediaries.
But recent cases in the South-West reveal a broader ecosystem involving alleged child theft, illegal adoption, fraudulent surrogacy arrangements, fake clinics, supposed orphanages, brokers and even social-media recruitment.
In April 2026, for instance, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps reportedly raided a suspected baby factory in Badagry, Lagos, rescuing 18 pregnant women and 10 children. Investigators said some of the women had found the facility through Facebook and had agreed to surrender their babies after delivery in exchange for money. �
Sage Journals
In Ogun, police in August 2026 announced the discovery of another suspected baby factory in the Mowe area. Two pregnant women and four children were rescued, while six suspects were arrested. Police also investigated the disappearance of a newborn delivered at a nearby hospital, leading to the arrest of a nurse.
The cases suggest that the business no longer depends entirely on keeping dozens of pregnant women in one location.
The Oyo case: when the baby factory leaves the building
Perhaps the most disturbing indication of the changing modus operandi is the recent Oyo case.
According to the police account reported by PUNCH, Adejoke Popoola allegedly confessed to selling two sets of children she gave birth to and stealing 19 other children for onward sale.
The alleged victims were not necessarily taken from a dedicated “baby factory”.
Some, police said, were stolen from churches, parties and other public gatherings.
One alleged method was particularly brazen: Popoola reportedly posed as a woman looking for accommodation, gaining access to homes before allegedly taking children when their parents were absent.
She also allegedly posed as a spiritualist, approaching families with children living with disabilities and promising healing.
In another case, police said she allegedly took a three-year-old boy, Ifakunle Ifagbenro, during an Egungun festival in Oyo after volunteering to carry him.
That is a significant departure from the image of the traditional baby factory.
The commodity is no longer necessarily produced inside the factory. It can be stolen from outside.
Police said 17 children were eventually rescued in connection with the investigation, although six were reportedly dead.
From pregnant girls to stolen children
This may represent the most important change in the modus operandi.
The old model depended heavily on obtaining pregnant women and girls, keeping them until childbirth and then taking the babies.
The emerging model appears to expand the supply chain.
A trafficker does not necessarily need to recruit a pregnant woman if an already-born child can be stolen.
The Oyo investigation illustrates this alleged transition from baby production to child acquisition.
That potentially makes the operation more difficult to detect because there may be no compound containing pregnant women to raid.
Instead, there may be:
a person recruiting vulnerable women;
another person locating or stealing children;
a broker connecting sellers to buyers;
an alleged illegal adoption intermediary;
a clinic or maternity facility providing cover;
and buyers waiting elsewhere.
In other words, the “factory” can become a distributed criminal network rather than a physical address.
Ogun shows another version
The January 2026 Ogun investigation provides another example.
Police said they dismantled a child-trafficking and illegal-surrogacy syndicate operating under the guise of an orphanage and rescued seven children.
Two pregnant 18-year-olds were allegedly recruited to carry pregnancies with the intention of selling the babies to pre-arranged buyers.
Police also alleged that a suspect acted as an intermediary connecting pregnant girls with prospective buyers.
Again, the model is different from the stereotypical secret compound.
There is recruitment.
There is a surrogate.
There is an intermediary.
There is a buyer.
And there is an alleged organisation providing legitimacy.
Ondo: the fake clinic
In October 2025, police in Ondo announced the discovery of another suspected baby factory in Ore.
Five pregnant girls and a baby boy were reportedly rescued.
The investigation began after a 17-year-old from Akwa Ibom allegedly reported that she had been taken to Ore under the promise of employment. The supposed clinic where she was taken was allegedly being used as a baby factory.
Police alleged that babies were being sold for hundreds of thousands of naira, with male babies reportedly fetching more than female babies.
The case demonstrates another adaptation: the use of apparently legitimate medical environments to conceal trafficking activities.
Lagos: the digital marketplace
Lagos provides perhaps the clearest picture of how technology is entering the equation.
In the April 2026 Badagry investigation, women reportedly said they found the facility through Facebook.
That changes the recruitment equation.
Previously, traffickers might have depended on personal contacts, recruiters, taxi drivers, traditional networks or people moving around rural communities.
Now, vulnerable women can potentially be reached through online groups and advertisements.
And buyers, too, can be located without ever physically meeting the people operating the facility.
The internet does not create the demand for children, but it can make matching supply and demand easier and more discreet.
Why the South-East connection matters
The historical South-East connection should not be forgotten.
Research examining reported cases found that the region — particularly Abia, Anambra, Enugu and Imo — accounted for a substantial share of documented baby-factory discoveries during the period studied. One study’s compilation of 22 cases found 14 in those Eastern states. �
Sage Journals
A 2024 study likewise noted that many reported cases historically occurred in the South-East. �
IIARD Journals
But this history should not be interpreted as suggesting that the South-East or its people are inherently responsible for the crime. Baby factories are criminal enterprises driven by a combination of exploitation, poverty, demand for children, weak safeguards and illegal trafficking networks.
What the history does show is that Nigeria has dealt with this phenomenon for many years — and that its geographical footprint is not fixed.
The South-West cases demonstrate that the problem has become increasingly national and networked.
What has changed?
The transformation can be summarised simply:
Yesterday:
Pregnant girls → secret facility → delivery → baby removed → buyer.
Today:
Vulnerable woman/child → recruiter → social media or personal contact → fake clinic/orphanage/surrogacy arrangement → broker → buyer.
And in the most disturbing cases:
Child → opportunity → theft → broker → buyer.
That is why law enforcement cannot rely solely on raiding suspected baby factories.
The investigation must follow the entire chain — recruiters, transporters, medical personnel, brokers, forged documents, bank transfers, online groups, prospective buyers and facilities providing medical or legal cover.
The demand that keeps the market alive
At the centre of the problem is demand.
Some prospective parents may be genuinely desperate to have children. Others may be seeking to avoid the lengthy and regulated adoption process. Infertility, social pressure and the desire for a child can create vulnerabilities that traffickers exploit.
But desperation for a child cannot justify buying one.
A child obtained through trafficking is not an adoption success story. It is potentially the product of another family’s loss, deception or exploitation.
The new warning for the South-West
The recent cases do not, by themselves, prove that baby factories are statistically increasing across the South-West; Nigeria lacks a comprehensive public dataset that would allow such a conclusion to be made confidently.
But the string of cases across Lagos, Ogun, Ondo and Oyo is difficult to ignore.
And perhaps more important than the number of cases is what they reveal about the changing business model.
The baby factory of the past had walls.
The baby factory of today may have a Facebook account, a phone number, a broker, a hospital contact, an illegal adoption arrangement and a buyer waiting hundreds of kilometres away.
It may not even have a factory.
The baby factory is changing.
The question now is whether Nigeria’s child-protection, adoption and law-enforcement systems can change quickly enough to stop it.

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