Wednesday, September 17, 2025 - The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, has rescued eight children suspected to have been stolen from Kano and other northern states and trafficked to the South–South and South–East regions by a notorious interstate child trafficking syndicate.
The rescued children, said to be aged between two and 10
years, were reportedly found in a privately owned orphanage run by a top
executive of the Association of Orphanage Operators in Nigeria.
NAPTIP said more than 70 children, including 15 newborns,
were discovered at the facility, confirming that only eight were identified as
missing children from Kano.
The operation was carried out with the support of the
Anambra State Command of the Department of State Services, DSS; the Nigeria
Police, Delta Command; and the Kano State Ministry of Women Affairs, with the
active involvement of civil society organisations and distressed parents.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Dr Binta Bello, while
speaking on the operation, decried what she described as the “unwholesome
activities” of some orphanages in the country.
Bello stated that said the breakthrough followed years of
lamentations by parents in Kano and neighbouring states, who, as far back as
2017, had raised alarm over syndicates luring children between the ages of two
and 10 from schools, markets and neighbourhoods.
She recalled that in December 2022, a Kano-based NGO,
Protection Against the Abduction and Missing of Our Children, PATAMOOC,
petitioned NAPTIP on behalf of more than 200 affected parents.
“We, the parents, are in serious pain. Some of us are
already hospitalised, while others have passed away due to the shock of losing
our children and the continuous uncertainty of waiting daily for news — whether
they will be found dead or alive,” she said.
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