Who is trafficking our children from the North to the South?, by Abba Abubakar Yakubu

This issue is not new. Discussions have long been ongoing about how children are being abducted or sold like livestock to those in need of children in some Southern states. Numerous reports have confirmed how innocent young boys and girls are being snatched from their parents’ homes, villages, and markets, and taken to states like Anambra, Enugu, Imo, Rivers, Cross Rivers, Delta, and even Lagos State.

These children, under 18 years old,both boys and girls, come from states like Plateau, Bauchi, Kano, Gombe, Kaduna, Borno, and Sokoto. If you recall, since 2016, there have been concerns about young children aged two to ten who were abducted from Kano State to various South-Easthern states, allegedly for sale to those needing children, for labor, or prostitution for profit. It’s no small matter, investigations to locate where these abducted children are taken after being smuggled from their home states are extensive.

During an investigation by security team, a fake orphanage was discovered in Asaba, Delta State, where these children were being housed and sold to buyers under the guise of orphans. This led to tracking the destinations after sales, and even a court in Kano State convicted those implicated in these criminal networks.

Section 30 of the Child Rights Act of 2003, amended in 2005 and 2015, defines buying, selling, or renting out young children as a grave offense, while Section 32 prohibits using children for begging, hawking, or any exploitative work involving prostitution or devaluing human life, including assigning them tasks beyond their age capacity. Each of these offenses carries a potential five-year prison sentence or fines ranging from one million to five million Naira.

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Plateau State is among those suffering from this child trafficking problem, where children are abducted and taken South for prostitution and labor. Due to the escalating concern, Plateau State Gender and Equal Opportunities Commission, in collaboration with security agents, raided hotels housing girls forced to bear children for sale, as well as sites exploiting young girls, to rescue these children.

Not once, the Plateau State Government has arrested such child traffickers, prosecuting them in court. Even last year, a man posing as an Evangelist was caught; despite public trust as a man of God, he was into child trafficking under the pretext of supporting the orphans.

Motor park officials must be commended for aiding authorities in monitoring passengers suspected to be child and girl traffickers. A report published late last year detailed how these officials at Talatu Jang Motor Park in Jos intercepted five young children en route to Calabar in Cross Rivers State. Other children were nabbed at a bus station and meant for Lagos without guardians.

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How can one give birth to children, yet due to poverty or hardship, decide to sell them? Or rent them out for others to profit from, without knowing their condition? In this era of failed upbringing and insecurity, can a father or mother sleep soundly at night without knowing whereabout their child?

This heinous act continues to worry authorities not just in Plateau or Kano alone, but nearly all Northern states, especially areas facing security challenges and economic hardship. Recently, it was reported that Attorney General of Plateau State, Philemon Audu Daffi, was saying, what is happening, in regards to child trafficking, shows the extent of societal decay. Most of these children are not sent with their consent, the issue is related to insecurity, economic collapse, family breakdown, and parental neglect.

A woman in Plateau State named Naomi (not her real name) handed over her teenage daughter to be taken to one of the states in the South to work, so that to get some money for the family, after her husband’s death, killed by bandits on the farm. But after a few months, when she called her daughter, she said she was tired and couldn’t continue due to do what was being done to her. Though, the girl could not directly tell her mother, exactly what is happening to her, but after persistent questioning, she confessed they were forced into prostitution. This shocked the mother, who had unknowingly sent her daughter into a horrific life.

This is not peculiar to Plateau children, nor is it only those taken to the South have their lives being destroyed. It affects those in the IDP camps, those leaving their villages to work in the cities, and even students at boarding schools or higher institutions that stays far away from their parents, drawn into prostitution under the guise of looking for money to take care of their school fees. You will see underage girls under 18 whose lives become pitiable and regrettable.

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There is an urgent need to intensify public awareness about these children’s future, their upbringing, and education, as tomorrow’s leaders. These children should be in school or under parental care, not enslaved or abandoned in depravity. Parents must heed the responsibility God entrusted to them, knowing He will question them on how they take care of them.

Giving away our children or taking them without consent to sell or force them into labour or prostitution is not something society can leave solely to the government. We must all participate. Let us remove selfishness, greed, and negligence. As parents and community members, let us do what is right to end the trafficking of young children and girls.

Yakubu is a Jos-based multimedia journalist.

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