The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has raised the alarm over the alleged use of civil society organisations (CSOs) as fronts by human traffickers to gain access to vulnerable communities and traffic children.
The agency said traffickers were increasingly targeting communities affected by insecurity, including areas facing farmer-herder conflicts, by pretending to be representatives of non-governmental organisations offering help to distressed families.
The Head of Press and Public Relations of NAPTIP, Vincent Adekoye, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja at a joint press briefing of security spokespersons.
Adekoye said the agency had discovered that some traffickers were approaching vulnerable communities under the guise of providing educational and humanitarian support.
According to him, the criminals often promise parents that they will take their children back to school or provide other forms of assistance before taking the children away.
“Traffickers also now masquerade under the umbrella of Civil Society Organisations and move to communities that are already distressed; moving to communities where you have farmer-herder crises, and promising parents that, ‘Oh, we will take your children back to school,’ under a fake back-to-school project. And from there, they harvest children, move them,” he said.
The warning has raised fresh concerns about the safety of children in communities already weakened by insecurity, displacement and poverty.
Such communities often have families facing serious financial difficulties and disruptions to education, making offers of free schooling, food, accommodation or other support attractive to parents.
NAPTIP said traffickers were taking advantage of such conditions to win the trust of families before separating children from their parents.
Adekoye disclosed that the agency recently rescued four children in Onitsha, Anambra State, who were allegedly trafficked from Kajuru in Kaduna State in 2023.
He said some of the children were found in a high-rise building, while another was recovered from the custody of a nurse at a Federal Medical Centre in Onitsha.
The case, according to NAPTIP, shows how far trafficking networks can move victims from their communities and how difficult it can be for families to trace children once they have been taken away.
The agency said it was taking steps to prevent criminal elements from using the credibility of genuine civil society organisations to carry out trafficking activities.
Adekoye said NAPTIP planned to profile CSOs, especially community-based and faith-based organisations working in vulnerable areas.
He called on the leadership of CSOs to carry out internal checks to ensure that criminals did not hide under their names.
“We have continued also to ensure that we want to profile the Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria. My DG has asked me to convey to them, the leadership of the CSOs in Nigeria, to do an in-house cleansing,” he said.
He explained that community-based organisations and faith-based groups often had close relationships with residents, making them trusted by vulnerable families.
That trust, he said, could be exploited by traffickers pretending to represent such organisations.
The NAPTIP spokesman disclosed that the agency had so far recovered 118 children allegedly trafficked from Nasarawa, Benue and three other states in the North-Central region.
He urged Nigerians to be cautious when individuals or organisations approach families with offers to take children away for schooling, employment or other forms of assistance.
“As at last count, we have recovered 118 of such children from those that were trafficked from Nasarawa and from Benue, and three other states within the North Central. So, we are appealing to Nigerians to be watchful. When you see them, please contact NAPTIP,” he said.
The warning comes amid recent operations in which NAPTIP reportedly rescued more than 180 children from trafficking networks allegedly operating under the cover of civil society organisations and offering educational support to vulnerable families.
The agency’s latest alert highlights the changing methods being used by traffickers to recruit and move victims.
Human trafficking has remained a major challenge in Nigeria, with children and young people among those considered most vulnerable.
Traffickers often target people facing poverty, unemployment, displacement, conflict and other forms of hardship.
Children can be particularly vulnerable because they depend on adults for protection, education and other basic needs.
In communities affected by insecurity, the risk can become greater as families are displaced from their homes and lose access to schools, jobs and other support systems.
NAPTIP said traffickers were now combining these traditional vulnerabilities with modern technology to recruit victims.
The agency has also raised concerns about the use of social media platforms to lure young Nigerians with promises of well-paid jobs and better living conditions abroad.
Adekoye said some young Nigerians had been persuaded to travel to Asian countries after receiving what appeared to be genuine employment offers.
He said traffickers sometimes arranged travel documents, transportation and other logistics, making the recruitment process appear legitimate.
According to him, NAPTIP recently rescued 16 young Nigerian men from Thailand after they were allegedly lured with attractive job offers.
“From beginning, it looks so real to them that they have no reason at all to doubt,” he said.
Adekoye said some victims who became stranded abroad contacted the agency for help after discovering that the jobs they were promised did not exist or that the conditions were different from what they had been told.
He said the experiences of some of the victims were extremely serious, with some reportedly dying while others narrowly escaped death.
“Just in July, we rescued about 16 of them from Thailand. When you hear their story, your emotion will corrupt you of what they pass through. Some of them couldn’t survive. Those who survived have a narrow escape from death,” he said.
The agency’s warning therefore covers both physical community-based recruitment and online recruitment.
Parents and guardians have been urged to verify the identity and activities of organisations seeking to take children away from their communities.
Community leaders, religious organisations and genuine civil society groups are also expected to play a role in identifying suspicious activities and reporting them to security agencies.
NAPTIP said genuine organisations working in vulnerable communities should cooperate with authorities and ensure that their staff, programmes and beneficiaries can be properly verified.
The agency’s call for profiling of CSOs is aimed at separating legitimate humanitarian and educational organisations from criminal groups seeking to exploit their reputation.
It also stressed the need for families to be cautious about offers that appear too good to be true, particularly when strangers seek to take children away without clear documentation or parental safeguards.
The agency urged members of the public to report suspected trafficking activities rather than confronting suspected traffickers themselves.
The increasing use of social media also means that parents and young people need to be careful about online job offers, especially those involving overseas travel.
Authorities have repeatedly warned that traffickers can use fake employment advertisements, false identities and apparently genuine travel arrangements to win the confidence of potential victims.
NAPTIP’s latest disclosures show that trafficking networks are adapting their methods to changing social and economic conditions.
While vulnerable communities remain a major target, criminals are also using trusted organisations and digital platforms to reach potential victims.
The agency said it would continue working with security agencies, communities and other stakeholders to rescue victims and prevent further trafficking.
For families living in communities affected by insecurity and economic hardship, NAPTIP’s message is clear: offers of education, jobs or assistance involving the movement of children must be properly checked before they are accepted.
The agency said greater vigilance and early reporting could help prevent children from being separated from their families and moved into trafficking networks.
It urged Nigerians with information about suspicious organisations, recruiters or movements of children to contact NAPTIP and other relevant authorities.
The agency maintained that protecting vulnerable Nigerians would require cooperation between government agencies, communities, civil society organisations, religious groups and families.
As traffickers continue to develop new ways of finding victims, NAPTIP said the public must remain alert and ensure that genuine efforts to help vulnerable families are not hijacked by criminals.