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 by an interstate child trafficking ring.
The children, aged between two and 10, were traced to a privately run orphanage in Asaba, Delta State, operated by a senior executive of the Association of Orphanage Operators in Nigeria.
According to NAPTIP, more than 70 children, including 15 newborns, were found at the facility, though only eight were positively identified as missing children from Kano.
The operation, which the agency described as intelligence-driven, was carried out in collaboration with the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigeria Police, the Kano State Ministry of Women Affairs, civil society groups, and distressed parents.
Director General of NAPTIP, Dr. Binta Bello, said the breakthrough followed years of petitions and complaints from parents in Kano and neighbouring states, some dating back to 2017.
In 2022, a Kano-based NGO, Protection Against the Abduction and Missing of Our Children (PATAMOOC), had petitioned the agency on behalf of more than 200 families whose children had disappeared.
“It was this outcry that set off discreet investigations, leading to coordinated raids in Anambra and Delta.
While the Anambra operation was thwarted after the children were moved overnight, the Asaba raid yielded results,” Bello said.
She condemned the activities of some orphanages, questioning the legitimacy of facilities housing dozens of children without clear records of their origins.
She also criticised the operator of the Asaba orphanage for refusing to honour NAPTIP’s summons.
Bello confirmed that the rescued children have since been returned to Kano and reunited with their families.
She urged state ministries of women affairs to intensify oversight of orphanages, warning that NAPTIP would continue enforcing existing regulations to protect vulnerable children and dismantle trafficking networks.