The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has alerted parents about the risks associated with "sweet" promises made by traffickers who want to enlist children for sexual exploitation, child labour, and other illicit activities.
As instances of such "sweet" promises, the agency included offers of employment abroad, education, vocational training, and housekeeping positions.
Mrs Nkemdilim Okafor, head of NAPTIP in Abia State, stated that the majority of child trafficking cases started when parents gave their children to people who promised to sponsor them overseas or engage them as house help and train them in schools during a recent visit to raise awareness in the Osisioma Ngwa council area of Abia State.
She urged parents to use caution when choosing the people to whom they entrust custody of their children, noting that many trafficked children had had unwanted pregnancies through owners of baby factories and that other children had perished.
Okafor goes on to explain why NAPTIP made the decision to inform residents in rural areas about the dangers of child trafficking: they discovered that traffickers took advantage of the areas' low levels of knowledge and poverty to persuade parents into giving up their children.
She asked the residents of the state to report any traffickers they may be aware of or anybody who hires kids in domestic labour, and she assured them that any information they submitted would be kept completely confidential.
She warned that “Child traffickers are still on the prowl. Child trafficking is modern-day slavery. This is why NAPTIP has sensitised communities and parents on the dangers of handing their children to people they do not know too well. You must be vigilant, especially during this festive period, as they will visit and use their sweet tongues to lure you and your children with tempting gifts. They will come to take advantage of the low-level awareness and poverty in rural communities.
“You must ignore all these people that come to you with sweet talks and promises of sponsoring your child abroad, engaging and training them as house helps and placing parents on monthly salaries and giving you bags of rice and other good things. Most of these people are dishonest. They will only exploit your children and turn them into sex slaves and prostitutes and child labourers. Some will not train your children in schools as they promised, but may even use them for rituals. Therefore, we need to be careful in order not to endanger the lives of our children because some of them have gotten unwanted pregnancies from baby factories while others have lost their lives. NAPTIP has been preaching against these social vices. Since 2006, we have arrested many child traffickers and rescued over 2,000 victims of abuse.”
Chief Christian Kamalu, Chairman of Osisioma Ngwa Council, was represented by Mr Ugochukwu Iheancho, Head of Personnel Management of the Council, and he spoke about how the operations of NAPTIP have decreased baby factories and sales in his area in his remarks.
Eze Young Noble Ajuzieogu, the traditional ruler of the Umuode Autonomous community, welcomed NAPTIP to his palace and praised the organisation for its awareness tour of rural villages. He also promised to work with NAPTIP to eradicate child trafficking.