"We stormed the premises of the Cross Foundation in Aba three days ago following a report that pregnant girls aged between 15 and 17 are being made to make babies for the proprietor," said Bala Hassan, police commissioner for Abia state in the country's southeast.
"We rescued 32 pregnant girls and arrested the proprietor who is undergoing interrogation over allegations that he normally sells the babies to people who may use them for rituals or other purposes."
Some of the girls told police they had been offered to sell their babies for between 25,000 and 30,000 naira (192 dollars) depending on the sex of the baby.
The babies would then be sold to buyers for anything from 300,000 naira to one million naira (1,920 and 6,400 dollars) each, according to a state agency fighting human trafficking in Nigeria, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
The girls were expected to be transferred to the regional NAPTIP offices in Enugu on Wednesday, the regional head Ijeoma Okoronkwo told AFP.
Hassan said the owner of the "illegal baby factory" is likely to face child abuse and human trafficking charges. Buying or selling of babies is illegal in Nigeria and can carry a 14-year jail term.
"We have so many cases going on in court right now," said Okoronkwo.
In 2008, police raids revealed an alleged network of such clinics, dubbed baby "farms" or "factories" in the local press.
Cases of child abuse and people trafficking are common in West Africa. Some children are bought from their families to for use as labour in plantations, mines, factories or as domestic help.
Others are sold into prostitution while a few are either killed or tortured in black magic rituals. NAPTIP says it has also seen a trend of illegal adoption.
"There is a problem of illict adoption and people not knowing the right way to adopt children," said Okoronkwo.
Human trafficking is ranked the third most common crime after economic fraud and drug trafficking in the country, according to UNESCO.
Source
Orisirisi. God help us
ReplyDeleteNa wa ooo..wonders shall never seize
ReplyDeleteshocking and this is going on in 9ja na wa o
ReplyDeletesee wickedness :(
ReplyDelete14 years is NOT enough... And i'm sure IF the owner had daughters, he wouldn't put them there. Shame!
ReplyDeleteCan you imagine this nonsense!
ReplyDeletewhat is this please? Are we the only 'struggling' country in Africa? kedu nonsense bu ife a??
ReplyDeleteunbelievable what a travesty!!!
ReplyDeleteDon't get this story, do they also force the girls to have sex to get prgnant or they are already pregnangt teenagers?!!
ReplyDeleteOMG...terrible!!
ReplyDelete@anon 6.27: GOOD QUESTION!! but na wa sha. Some people are in need of babies but cant have any, others have them free from God and dont value them. LIFE
ReplyDeleteA TRAGEDY AND HORRIFFIC REFLECTION OF THE NIGERIAN SOCIETY ...
ReplyDeleteTHIS ABHERRATION MUST BE CORRECTED 15 AND 17 GIRLS...WHATS THIS COUNTRY TURNING TO
14 years? really? this should be life!
ReplyDeleteAre the Nigerian poloice going to swear that they are just getting aware of this business??This has been going on for over a decade now, aba is notorious for this kind of activity. infact, for so many years now, aba is the place to go when u need to 'adopt' a child. well thank God they (police) have finally done something about it. and to answer one poster's question, they dont force these girls to have sex and get pregnant. these girls are few of the many teenage girls that get pregnant,drop out of school and are thrown out of their homes by their parents.they have nowhere to go and these 'foundations' take them in till they give birth, give them 20 - 30k and ask them to go and better their lives after they take the babies from them promising them that these babies will be well taken care of.
ReplyDeletethis just shows that the slavery mentality has not stopped o.na wa..
ReplyDeleteNa today.....
ReplyDeleteUna don ask una GEJ, how him got his own wey dem dey parade?
Una don ask Akpabio of Akwa Ibom and Liyel Imoke, how dem got thiers?
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