The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has uncovered a large-scale child trafficking and illegal adoption syndicate operating out of Benue State and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The agency’s Chief Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, October 26, 2025.
He said the operation, which involved field teams in Nasarawa, Lagos and Enugu, led to the arrest of a high-profile founder of a non-governmental organisation.
It also led to the rescue of 26 trafficked children, out of more than 300 reportedly sold across multiple states for between N1 million and N3 million per child.
The individual, who also founded the globally recognized Civil Society Organisation, the National Council of Child’s Right Advocates of Nigeria (NACRAN), based in Benue State, was taken into custody over allegations of extensive child trafficking, illegal adoption, and child sales.
In what officials described as a major breakthrough, operatives from NAPTIP’s Makurdi Command successfully rescued 26 children out of an estimated 300 who are believed to have been trafficked and sold across Benue, Enugu, Lagos, Nasarawa, and Abuja.
Authorities have launched an intensive manhunt to locate the remaining 274 victims as investigations continue into the full scope of the syndicate’s operations.
A 34-year-old woman suspected to be an accomplice, along with two additional orphanage operators from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Nasarawa State, were also detained after several trafficked children were traced to their care facilities.
This operation follows only weeks after NAPTIP’s Director-General, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, publicly voiced her concern about the increasing reports of corruption and exploitation among some orphanage operators.
She had urged state ministries of women’s affair to closely monitor orphanages to ensure compliance with legal and ethical standards.
The latest arrests form part of NAPTIP’s renewed national clampdown on orphanage and childcare institutions, a directive issued by the Director-General in response to multiple reports of child trafficking and other illicit practices involving some shelter homes.
According to official records, the case began on May 1, 2025, when a distraught father reported that his four-year-old son had been handed over by the boy’s grandmother to an NGO without his approval.
Upon demanding his child’s return, the man was reportedly told that he would not be able to see the boy for three years.
His complaint triggered a NAPTIP investigation that exposed a sprawling child trafficking and illegal adoption network.
Preliminary findings revealed that the suspects exploited impoverished rural families in Benue State through a deceptive initiative named the “Back to School Project.” Under this scheme, they allegedly recruited children from conflict-affected communities in Guma Local Government Area including Daudu, Yelwata, and Ngban with false promises of educational sponsorship.
The children were then trafficked to states such as Abuja, Nasarawa, Enugu, and Lagos.
Community meetings were organized to convince local leaders and parents that the project was legitimate. Many guardians either signed misleading consent forms or verbally agreed to release their children, believing they would be reunited after three years.
Reports indicate that over 300 children were taken under this pretense, some without any parental consent at all.
The trafficked children, aged between one and thirteen years, were moved to orphanages in Abuja and Nasarawa, where they were allegedly sold to couples under the disguise of legal adoption for sums ranging from N1 million to ₦3 million per child.
Certain orphanages acted as temporary holding centers where children were kept before being handed over to buyers. Four such homes located at Kaigini, Kubwa Expressway, Abuja; Masaka Area 1, Mararaba (by Abaca Road); and another behind the International Market in Mararaba have been identified and are under investigation.
One complainant revealed he paid ₦2.8 million as an adoption fee and an additional N100,000 as a consultancy charge to a syndicate member. Investigators also discovered that several rescued children had their names and identities altered, making the tracing process difficult.
Responding to the shocking revelations, NAPTIP’s Director-General, Binta Adamu Bello, described the situation as both “unbelievable and mind-boggling.”
She stated, “Arising from the case at hand, I wish to say that issues of child trafficking and adoption are becoming a national crisis that requires urgent attention from all relevant stakeholders.
“A few weeks ago, based on credible intelligence, I expressed concern and alerted the state ministries of women affairs on the unpatriotic and illegal activities of some orphanage operators across the country.
“It is painful that some unpatriotic elements with recognised entities and status now use their social class to deceive already vulnerable people in crisis-prone communities, traffic their children most of whom narrowly escape death in the wake of communal or farmer–herder clashes, and sell them to desperate parents in the name of adoption, without the valid legal consent of the parents.
“This is unacceptable, and those already arrested in connection with this wicked act shall be made to face the full wrath of the law.
“Our children are not commodities to be displayed in orphanages and sold at will to the highest bidders. This must stop,” the NAPTIP boss fumed.
