NAPTIP Uncovers Massive Child Trafficking Syndicate in Benue
In a
sweeping operation that has sent shockwaves across Nigeria, the National Agency
for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has dismantled a
sprawling child trafficking and illegal adoption network operating out of Benue
State and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The agency’s Chief Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, revealed in a statement dated October 26, 2025, that the syndicate had trafficked over 300 children, with 26 rescued so far and 274 still being traced.
The
operation, coordinated across NAPTIP’s field offices in Nasarawa, Lagos, and
Enugu, led to the arrest of a 60-year-old orphanage owner who also founded a
prominent non-governmental organisation. This individual is a known figure
within the Orphanage Owners’ Umbrella Body in Nigeria and the National Council
of Child Rights Advocates of Nigeria. Alongside three alleged accomplices, the
suspect was apprehended in a sting operation led by NAPTIP’s Makurdi Command.
The
syndicate reportedly operated under the guise of a humanitarian initiative
called the “Back to School Project.” This deceptive front targeted vulnerable
communities in Benue’s Guma Local Government Area, particularly those ravaged
by farmer–herder conflicts in towns such as Daudu, Yelwata, and Ngban.
Villagers
and traditional leaders were misled into believing the project would sponsor
children’s education. Parents were either tricked into signing consent forms or
verbally agreed to release their children, with promises of reunion after three
years. In many cases, consent was neither informed nor documented.
Children
aged between one and thirteen were transported to orphanages in Abuja and
Nasarawa States, where they were allegedly sold to couples under the pretense
of legal adoption.
The price
per child ranged from ₦1 million to ₦3 million. To obscure their identities and
frustrate tracing efforts, the children were issued new names and fabricated
birth records, reportedly facilitated by complicit officials.
Four orphanages
linked to the syndicate, located along Kaigini, Kubwa Expressway in Abuja;
Masaka Area 1 and Abacha Road in Mararaba; and behind the International Market
in Mararaba, have been sealed pending further investigation.
The case
came to light on May 1, 2025, when a father petitioned NAPTIP after his
four-year-old son was handed over to an NGO by the child’s grandmother without
his consent. He was told he could only see his son after three years.
This
complaint triggered a deeper investigation that exposed the multi-state network
of trafficking, illegal adoption, and document forgery. One complainant
revealed he paid ₦2.8 million as an adoption fee and an additional ₦100,000 as
a consultancy fee to a member of the syndicate.
NAPTIP’s
Director-General, Binta Bello, condemned the operation as “unbelievable and
mind-bugling,” describing it as a national crisis that demands immediate
government and public intervention.
She
emphasized that children are not commodities to be displayed and sold in
orphanages and called for urgent reforms in the oversight of orphanages and
faith-based child-care centres.
Bello
also reiterated the agency’s commitment to rooting out fraudulent adoption
networks and urged state governments to strengthen regulatory frameworks to
protect vulnerable children.
This
operation has exposed the dark underbelly of child trafficking in Nigeria,
revealing how social status and institutional recognition can be weaponized to
exploit the most defenseless.
As investigations
continue, the nation watches closely, hoping for justice and systemic change.
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