The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has disclosed that some Nigerians now take children to Niger Republic to get assistance from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
This was disclosed by the North-West Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, Abdullahi Babale, during a media parley on Friday, noting that the agency received eight rescued under-aged children and arrested two suspected human traffickers in Kano State.
Babale said the rescued victims; four males and four females, between the ages of three months and 10 years were trafficked by their biological mothers.
According to the NAPTIP commander, on April 22, the Niger consulate in Kano alerted NAPTIP that they had rescued eight victims of human trafficking and arrested two female suspected traffickers.
He explained that the victims and suspects were from Saminaka in Lere LGA of Kaduna State, and were heading to Algeria “for begging and exploitative labour”.
He said, “Based on intelligence report, some people hire children and take them to Niger because the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Niger, when they see people stranded, accommodate, feed and give them money, counsel and rehabilitate them in 45 days, after which they will be deported back to Nigeria. An investigation is ongoing, and when concluded, the suspects will be charged to court.”
Meanwhile, one of the suspects, who is the mother of three of the victims, allegedly said she was going to Algeria to find a job.
“This is my first time. I don’t pray for even my enemy to embark on this kind of journey seeking greener pasture. We have suffered a lot,” she said
