A syndicate described as “baby sales stock market” in Atani, Ogbaru Local Government Area, near Onitsha, was broken last week with the discovery of no fewer than 13 girls in various stages of pregnancy. It was revealed that the operators pay the girls N200,000 for a boy and N150,000 for a baby girl on delivery. Sadly it was also found that mortality rate of the breeders (girls) and their babies was high as they were given limited medical care and scanty meals to cut cost. Also arrested were five boys, some in their teens, who were presumed to have been used in impregnating the girls and other such girls who were brought into the place once the deal was struck.
This is one of the latest trends in domestic human trafficking which is also part of the international trafficking rings. The statistics are unbelievably dire as human trafficking has become one of the biggest money-making businesses in our country today. But beyond lamentations, governments, families, voluntary organisations and other stakeholders should provide adequate framework for the protection of the Nigerian child.
While we condemn human trafficking, we are of the strong belief that a demonstration of political will to diligently prosecute offenders would send a clear message to human traffickers, irrespective of their social status. There is also a need for a sustained sensitisation of Nigerians especially in rural areas on the dangers posed by ‘good Samaritans’ who offer better lives for young boys and girls away from the watchful eyes of their parents and guardians.
However, the issues involved are more fundamental than just about discovering baby factories. We need to interrogate the economic circumstances that leave young women no other option than to endure unwanted and unwarranted pregnancies, wait for nine months of agony often in unhygienic circumstances in order to have babies that are no more than merchandise. Soon after birth, these children are sold off to middlemen who scout for childless parents ready to pay any amount to ‘buy’ a child or to unscrupulous people who specialise in human organs.
From available information, this is now a thriving business in many parts of the country with many players taking charge of different aspects of the seemingly lucrative trade: baby factory owners disguise as maternity home operators; young adult males are paid to routinely father children by strange young women with the attendant risks including HIV and multiple other infections; law enforcement agencies are aware of these facilities and are said to be in the pay-roll of their owners; child trafficking middlemen front as orphanage and NGO operators who place advertisements in the media and online; unscrupulous lawyers are on hand to facilitate these child trafficking transactions as legitimate ‘adoptions’.
While legal adoption remains a legitimate option for couples and adults who may not be in a position to bear their own children or others, who out of an abundance of love or generosity, may want to adopt children from registered orphanages, there is something curiously wrong about allowing unfettered illegal trading in babies. We need to stop and think of the social problems that are being created with an increasing number of children that are sequestered from their biological parents.
Nigeria is a signatory to all international treaties and protocols on human trafficking. To have within our borders a viral human trafficking industry does not favour a country with an unenviable reputation in almost every department. The authorities must find a way to put an end to this emblem of shame
