The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons says it has rescued more than 180 children allegedly trafficked from five states and uncovered what it describes as a network of suspected traffickers operating behind the identities of civil society and humanitarian organizations.
NAPTIP also arrested a nurse at the Federal Medical Center, Onitsha, after she was allegedly found with one of the children.
The agency said its latest operation recovered three children allegedly taken from vulnerable families in Kajuru, Kaduna State, and moved to a private building in Onitsha.
Another child was reportedly recovered from the nurse.
NAPTIP Director-General Binta Bello said the agency was concerned about individuals allegedly posing as civil society or humanitarian workers while targeting communities affected by insecurity.
According to NAPTIP, suspected traffickers approached distressed families with promises of education and welfare support for their children, only for some of the children to be moved elsewhere and allegedly sold.
Those allegations remain under investigation and have not yet been established in court.
Bello urged legitimate civil society organizations, especially those working in the anti-trafficking sector, to investigate and expose criminal actors who may be misusing their platforms.
The agency said it had begun a manhunt for suspects identified during ongoing investigations.
One father said his son disappeared from Kajuru after insecurity displaced the family and people claiming to represent an NGO offered to take the child to the city for schooling.
The child, now six, was later identified among children recovered by NAPTIP after his photograph appeared on the agency’s social media page.
In another part of the investigation, NAPTIP said the nurse arrested at FMC Onitsha told investigators that she obtained a child from an orphanage in Abuja in 2023 after paying N771,000.
The agency is investigating whether children allegedly taken from vulnerable families were transferred through orphanages and then placed with individuals under the guise of adoption.
NAPTIP had earlier created a Special Squad within its Investigation and Monitoring Department to trace missing and trafficked children.
The agency said the latest recoveries had strengthened its investigation into a wider network involving suspected illegal child transfers across several states.
