By Patience Ogbo PhD
International community must prevail on Nigerian government to launch an emergency national operation against child trafficking and the criminal economy behind it
For years, Nigeria has witnessed disturbing reports of baby factories, child trafficking, illegal adoption, child abduction and the sale of children. These reports have emerged from different parts of the country and have been extensively documented by the media, law-enforcement agencies and child-protection organisations.
Yet, despite arrests, raids and the occasional dismantling of illegal facilities, the criminal enterprise continues to mutate.
This is no longer simply a collection of isolated crimes committed by desperate individuals. Increasing evidence suggests the emergence of a sophisticated, demand-driven black-market economy in which children are treated as commodities to be acquired, transferred, sold and, in some cases, allegedly exploited for criminal or ritual purposes.
Children are not commodities.
They are human beings with fundamental rights to life, dignity, identity, family and protection from exploitation.
Nigeria must therefore stop treating child trafficking as an ordinary criminal matter that can be addressed only through periodic raids and arrests. It requires an emergency, coordinated and sustained national response.
THE DEMAND THAT FUELS THE CRIME
One of the most uncomfortable realities that must be confronted is the demand side of the child-trafficking economy.
Behind every child sold is someone who wants to acquire that child.
The demand may be connected to infertility, social pressure to produce children, preference for biological children, preference for male children, stigma associated with adoption, poverty, teenage pregnancy, abandonment, illegal surrogacy or a desire to bypass lawful procedures for obtaining a child.
This demand creates a market.
Where there is demand and enormous financial profit, criminal networks will inevitably emerge to supply the market.
This is why simply arresting people found inside a so-called baby factory will not necessarily end the problem.
The investigators must ask: Who was waiting to buy the child? Who paid? Who arranged the transaction? Who recruited the pregnant woman? Who transported the child? Who forged the documents? Who provided the facility? Who connected the buyer and seller? Who received the money?
The investigation must follow the entire chain.
THE CRIME IS BECOMING MORE SOPHISTICATED
The traditional image of a baby factory as a clearly identifiable building where pregnant women are kept is increasingly inadequate.
Criminal networks can adapt.
They can operate through apparently legitimate maternity facilities, clandestine homes, fraudulent orphanages, illegal adoption arrangements, fake marriages, informal surrogacy arrangements, online networks and intermediaries who connect vulnerable women with prospective buyers.
There are also serious concerns surrounding the theft or disappearance of children from families and public places.
Recent allegations emerging from Oyo State, including claims that children were allegedly stolen, that some died and that remains were allegedly sold to ritualists, are particularly disturbing. Such allegations must, of course, be subjected to thorough investigation and due process before guilt is established.
But the seriousness of the allegations should not be lost in legal technicalities.
Every report of a missing child, stolen child or suspicious child transaction must be treated as an emergency.
A missing child should not become another statistic that disappears into police files.
GOVERNMENT MUST RESPOND AS IT DOES TO KIDNAPPING AND BANDITRY
Nigeria has demonstrated that when a criminal threat is considered sufficiently serious, government can mobilise security agencies across jurisdictions and establish coordinated operations to confront it.
The same urgency must now be applied to the trafficking and commodification of children.
The kind of inter-agency and inter-state security cooperation exemplified by coordinated operations such as Operation KOSAYE should inspire a dedicated national response to child trafficking.
The Federal Government should establish an Emergency National Operation Against Child Trafficking and the Commodification of Children, with coordinated response teams across the six geopolitical zones and identified trafficking hotspots.
This should not be another committee that holds meetings and produces reports.
It should be an operational structure with clearly defined responsibilities, intelligence-sharing mechanisms, rapid-response capacity and measurable targets.
The operation should bring together relevant agencies, including the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, state governments, ministries and departments responsible for women, children, health and social welfare, as well as relevant judicial and child-protection institutions.
The objective must be to dismantle the entire criminal economy, not merely parade suspects.
FIND THE CHILD. FIND THE NETWORK.
Nigeria urgently needs a national mechanism for the rapid reporting and tracing of missing children.
When a child disappears in one state, information should immediately become available to relevant authorities in neighbouring states and across the country.
Traffickers do not respect state boundaries.
A child stolen in one location can be transported hundreds of kilometres within hours.
Therefore, law-enforcement agencies must have systems capable of tracking movements across state borders.
There should be stronger cooperation among police commands, hospitals, schools, traditional institutions, social welfare offices, border authorities, orphanages, maternity homes and adoption agencies.
A national database for missing, found and rescued children should be developed and effectively managed, with appropriate safeguards for privacy and the protection of vulnerable children.
FOLLOW THE MONEY
The investigation of child trafficking must also become financially intelligent.
If a child is being sold for money, investigators should follow the money.
Who paid?
How much was paid?
Through which bank account, mobile transfer, intermediary or cash transaction?
Who received the money?
What professionals facilitated the transaction?
Were medical personnel involved?
Were documents falsified?
Were transporters paid?
Were prospective parents knowingly involved?
Was an organisation or facility used to conceal the transaction?
These questions can expose the hierarchy behind the crime.
The ultimate target should not always be the most visible suspect. It should be the network, including financiers, recruiters, brokers, transporters, document forgers, corrupt professionals, facilitators and buyers who knowingly participate in the illegal acquisition of children.
IVF AND LAWFUL ADOPTION MUST BE PART OF THE SOLUTION
Nigeria must also confront the social and economic conditions that create vulnerability to this criminal market.
Infertility remains a deeply sensitive issue in Nigerian society. Couples experiencing infertility often face enormous family and social pressure.
At the same time, assisted reproductive procedures can be expensive and inaccessible to many Nigerians.
Government and relevant health institutions should therefore promote safe, regulated and affordable fertility services while strengthening oversight of fertility clinics and assisted-reproduction practices.
Lawful adoption must also be promoted.
There should be a sustained national campaign to educate Nigerians that adopting a child through lawful procedures is not something to be ashamed of.
The adoption system itself must become more transparent, efficient and child-centred so that prospective parents are not driven toward illegal intermediaries because of cumbersome procedures.
PROTECT VULNERABLE WOMEN AND CHILDREN
The fight against child trafficking cannot be separated from the economic vulnerability of women and girls.
Pregnant teenagers, abandoned women, women living in extreme poverty and victims of exploitation can become targets for traffickers who promise money, accommodation, employment or medical assistance.
Prevention must therefore include economic empowerment, sexual and reproductive health education, protection for vulnerable girls, support for abandoned mothers and stronger community-based child-protection systems.
Birth registration must also receive greater attention.
A child without a verifiable identity is considerably more vulnerable to exploitation.
The government must work toward universal birth registration and strengthen systems for verifying the identity and family relationships of children involved in adoption, custody, foster care and other forms of alternative care.
UNICEF AND THE UNITED NATIONS MUST STEP IN
The international community can no longer regard the Nigerian situation as merely an internal law-enforcement matter.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has a central role to play in protecting children from violence, exploitation, trafficking and abuse.
UNICEF, the United Nations and international child-rights organisations should intensify engagement with the Nigerian government on this issue.
Their intervention should include technical support for child-protection systems, birth registration, missing-child mechanisms, family tracing and reunification, data management, survivor protection, prevention programmes and institutional strengthening.
International partners should also support Nigeria with expertise, training and resources while demanding measurable commitments from government.
The issue deserves the same international attention that accompanies other serious threats to children around the world.
Nigeria should not be allowed to normalise the disappearance, sale or exploitation of children.
RAIDING BABY FACTORIES IS NOT ENOUGH
For years, the pattern has often been familiar.
Authorities raid a facility.
Suspects are arrested.
Pregnant women and children are rescued.
The suspects are paraded.
The public applauds.
Then attention moves elsewhere.
Months later, another facility is discovered.
Another group of suspects is arrested.
Another set of children is rescued.
The cycle continues.
This demonstrates that the physical dismantling of individual facilities, although necessary, is not sufficient.
The criminal economy survives because the demand survives.
Therefore, law enforcement must move beyond the physical locations where victims are found and investigate the people and networks behind the demand.
Dismantle the market, not just the building.
THERE MUST BE CERTAINTY OF DETECTION AND PUNISHMENT
Criminals are encouraged when the likelihood of detection is low and prosecution is uncertain.
Nigeria needs stronger investigation, faster prosecution and effective punishment for those convicted of trafficking children.
The law must also distinguish between vulnerable victims who require protection and organised criminals who deliberately exploit them.
The buyers of trafficked children must not be ignored.
Anyone who knowingly pays for, acquires, transports, conceals or facilitates the illegal transfer of a child should face the full weight of the law.
CIVIL SOCIETY AND THE MEDIA MUST KEEP WATCH
Civil society organisations, journalists and investigative reporters also have a critical role.
The media must continue to expose trafficking networks, missing-child cases, suspicious adoption practices and institutional failures.
But investigative reporting must be conducted responsibly, particularly where allegations involve children and vulnerable families.
Government agencies must equally stop seeing credible investigative journalism as an attack.
Sometimes the media discovers a problem before the institutions responsible for addressing it do.
A strong democracy requires both effective law enforcement and an independent press capable of asking uncomfortable questions.
THIS REQUIRES A NATIONAL EMERGENCY
The Federal Government should treat the commodification of children as a national emergency.
A permanent national strategy should include:
Rapid-response mechanisms for missing and abducted children.
A national and inter-state missing-child information system.
Intelligence-sharing among security and child-protection agencies.
Surveillance and regulation of maternity homes, orphanages and adoption agencies.
Strong monitoring of assisted-reproduction and surrogacy arrangements.
Investigation of online recruitment and child-selling networks.
Identification and prosecution of buyers and financiers.
Financial investigation of trafficking proceeds.
Arrest and prosecution of men who abandon thier wives that are yet to conceive and men who abandon thier pregnant girlfriends.
Stronger birth-registration systems.
Family tracing and reunification of rescued children.
Psychological, medical and social support for survivors.
Protection for whistle-blowers and witnesses.
Regular public reporting of investigations, prosecutions and convictions.
Cross-border cooperation with neighbouring countries and international agencies.
Most importantly, the response must continue after the cameras leave.
The children rescued today need protection tomorrow.
NIGERIA MUST ACT BEFORE THE CRIME MUTATES FURTHER
The greatest danger is not only what is already happening but what this criminal market could become if left unchecked.
Criminal enterprises constantly adapt to law-enforcement pressure.
When one method becomes risky, another is developed.
When a physical baby factory is discovered, traffickers may move online.
When illegal adoption is exposed, they may exploit fake marriages, clandestine deliveries, fraudulent documentation or other methods to disguise the transfer of children.
The answer is therefore not merely more arrests.
It is intelligence.
It is prevention.
It is regulation.
It is prosecution.
It is public education.
It is social protection.
And, above all, it is the disruption of the demand that makes the business profitable.
The Nigerian government has demonstrated that it can mobilise extraordinary resources when kidnapping, banditry and other threats to national security demand urgent intervention.
The disappearance and trafficking of children deserve the same seriousness.
This is not a problem that should be left to a handful of police officers, social workers, journalists or non-governmental organisations.
It is a national crisis.
The United Nations, UNICEF, international child-rights organisations and development partners must increase pressure and support for Nigeria to establish a comprehensive emergency response.
The Nigerian government must equally demonstrate that protecting children is not merely a slogan but a national security priority.
Every child rescued represents a life saved.
Every trafficking network dismantled represents countless potential victims protected.
Every buyer prosecuted weakens the demand.
And every missing child successfully reunited with a family is a victory for the nation.
Nigeria cannot continue to arrest the symptoms while ignoring the disease.
Children are not commodities.
Baby factory is not a female crime alone . The men who directly or indirectly promote it through culture and abandonment should be made to face the law.
They are not products.
They are not merchandise.
They are not sources of profit.
They are human beings with rights, dignity and a future.
The time for a coordinated national emergency response is now.
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Editorial written by Patience Ogbo PhD
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