Nine out of the 19 children rescued from human traffickers in Kebbi State, North-West Nigeria have been reunited with their parents.
The little children were deceptively taken away from their parents by human traffickers in Zuru Emirate of Kebbi South on the pretext of schooling in Gusau in Zamfara State but were sold into slavery in Calabar, Cross River State, South-South Nigeria.
Head of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP in Kebbi State, Misbahu Iya Kaura, presented the nine youngsters to Governor Nasir Idris at Government House, Birnin Kebbi and they were subsequently reunited with their parents.
Kaura informed the Governor that the Agency recently rescued all the 19 children from Calabar and other places in the Niger Delta, as well as apprehended those involved in their trafficking.
He emphasised that, the case is in court and the nine children who testified in the matter were being reunited with their parents. Kaura said NAPTIP investigation shows that the human traffickers have agents in Zuru, deceiving parents to release their children for schooling purposes in Gusau.
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“Unfortunately, from Gusau, the children are trafficked to Calabar, sold into slavery between N280,000 and above, while the buyers change the names of the children to avoid detection”.
“We succeeded in arresting the traffickers and buyers, and consequently prosecuting them before the court of law”.
Governor Idris, directed the Agency to sustain enlightenment programme against child and human trafficking, warning that the government would prosecute whoever is involved in such nefarious act even to the Supreme Court.
He also warned parents not to be accomplices in child trafficking, as any of them found to surrender his or her children for monetary benefits will face prosecution in court of law.
(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
