The Deceptive Promise of Education

For families displaced by insecurity in Nigeria, the promise of a better education for their children often appears as a lifeline. However, a major intervention by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has revealed that this hope is being systematically exploited. The agency has rescued more than 180 children allegedly trafficked from five states by criminal groups operating under the guise of civil society organizations.

These syndicates specifically target distressed parents in conflict zones, presenting themselves as humanitarian helpers. They offer to take children to cities, promising enrollment in schools and a path out of poverty. Instead of classrooms, many of these children enter a trafficking chain where they are separated from their families for years, often disappearing entirely as they are moved across state lines.

A Father’s Three-Year Search

The human cost of this deception is illustrated by the story of a father from Kajuru, Kaduna State, whose three-year-old son was taken during a period of intense insecurity. After the community was displaced by gunmen, individuals known to the residents offered to take the children to the city for schooling. Trusting the promise of a better future, the parents handed over their children, only to face years of silence and evasive answers when the children failed to return for holidays.

Hope was nearly lost until the father discovered his son’s image on NAPTIP's social media page. The child, who was three when he disappeared, is now six years old. The reunion marked the end of a long period of uncertainty that had transformed a humanitarian gesture into a family tragedy.

I am overwhelmed with joy because I had initially lost hope of seeing my Son. It happened three years ago when some unknown gunmen invaded Kajuru, my Community. We were all affected and displaced. A few weeks later, some people, some of whom were known to us, came around and, in an effort to console us, promised to take our children to the city for proper education.

— Parent from Kajuru, Community Member, Kaduna State

Uncovering the Trafficking Network

NAPTIP’s investigation has exposed the logistical scale of these operations, which involve moving children from states like Benue and Nasarawa to urban centers. One recent operation led to the recovery of three children from a high-rise building in Onitsha, Anambra State. Another child was found in the care of a nurse at the Federal Medical Centre, Onitsha, who claimed she purchased the child from an orphanage in Abuja for N771,000.

The agency found that some children were distributed to orphanages where they were allegedly sold under the guise of adoption. This transformation of humanitarian trust into a criminal marketplace has raised significant alarms regarding the oversight of orphanages and the infiltration of the civil society sector by criminal elements.

NAPTIP’s Crackdown on Infiltrated NGOs

Binta Adamu Bello, the Director-General of NAPTIP, expressed deep concern over how traffickers are using the credibility of non-governmental organizations to lure vulnerable families. While acknowledging the vital work of genuine humanitarian actors, she noted that criminal elements have infiltrated the space to facilitate child theft and exploitation.

I am seriously disturbed by the activities of some persons masquerading as members of the Civil Society Organizations, who have been fingered in several issues of child trafficking from across the Country. These criminal elements often use the platform of prominent and popular Civil Society Organizations to lure and deceive parents from security-challenged communities and villages, take away their children in the name of educational support, and disappear into thin air.

— Binta Adamu Bello, Director-General, NAPTIP

In response to these findings, NAPTIP has established a Special Squad within its Investigation and Monitoring Department. This unit is specifically tasked with investigating missing children cases and tracking down individuals mentioned in survivor accounts. The agency has also called on the umbrella bodies of civil society organizations to conduct internal cleansings to flush out those using humanitarian platforms for criminal activities.