Dare Babalola
At least eight ‘stolen’ children have been rescued by operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
The development was made on Tuesday by NAPTIP Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, in a statement to newsmen.
Adekoye stated that the suspects stole the children from Kano and other northern states and trafficked them to the South-South and Eastern parts of the country.
He added that the victims were rescued in an orphanage in Delta State.
“Report from the operation indicated that while over 70 children were discovered inside the Orphanage with about 15 newborn babies, only eight children were identified as allegedly stolen from Kano State, and they were subsequently rescued,” the statement read in part.
In addition, Adekoye disclosed that the rescued children have been identified and reunited with their families by the necessary agency of the government in Kano State.
“The rescued children were identified through their pictures and other features by the representative of the concerned parents from Kano State, out of the over 70 children found inside the orphanage, including neonates,” the Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello, was quoted as saying.
The agency said the rescue was in collaboration with the support of the operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS), Anambra State Command, and operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Delta State Command.
There was also technical support of the Kano State Government through the State Ministry of Women Affairs, Civil Society Organisations in Kano State, and a cross-section of concerned parents in the north, NAPTIP said.
The operation was a fallout of the persistent outcry by some distressed parents in Kano and other states within the region, alleging the abduction of their children.
Bello decried the activities of some orphanages in Nigeria, saying that a good number of them have become a haven for stolen children.
“I wish to use this medium to call on State Ministries of Women Affairs across the country to beam searchlights on the activities of these orphanages and care homes that are increasing in numbers. We shall continue to carry out our oversight function on them in line with the provisions of the Trafficking in Persons (Control of Activities of Organizations and Centres) Regulations 2019,” he said.
