By Danjuma Amodu | March 18, 2026
The Niger State Command of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has rescued six victims of child trafficking, including twin babies, in a major breakthrough against human trafficking in the state.
The agency’s State Commander, Emmanuel Awhen, disclosed this while reuniting some of the rescued victims with their parents at NAPTIP’s office in Minna on Tuesday.
According to Awhen, the case began when a mother reported that a female staff member of the Social Welfare Department in Bida took the babies a day after birth, claiming the government would assist in raising them. Investigations revealed that babies were sold through a nurse at the Federal Medical Centre, Bida, to individuals in Lagos and Anambra.
The agency recovered the twins and reunited them with their mother on 18 December 2025. Further investigations uncovered another related case involving the same suspects, who allegedly deceived a beggar in Bida by posing as government officials willing to support the upbringing and education of her children.
Four children were taken, two kept as domestic helpers, and two sold to individuals in Abia and Anambra. The two children kept by the suspects were later returned to their parents.
Seven suspects, including a Bida Local Government Council’s Social Welfare Department staff member, have been arrested. NAPTIP appreciated the Niger Government’s support and collaboration.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Hadiza Idris-Kuta, commended NAPTIP’s swift response and reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to tackling human trafficking.
The commissioner described the incidents as disturbing, noting that vulnerable parents had been deceived into releasing their children under false assurances of care and support. She warned that traffickers were exploiting poor and displaced families with deceptive promises.
Idris-Kuta stressed the need for stronger collaboration among government agencies, local authorities, and community leaders to support vulnerable families and prevent trafficking. She called for intensified community sensitisation and improved surveillance, particularly in Bida and its environs, to identify, arrest, and prosecute perpetrators.
The father of the rescued children, Mallam Mu’azu Halilu, expressed gratitude to NAPTIP and the state government for rescuing his children. He pledged to take proper care of them and vowed never to allow such an incident to recur.
