Chibuzo Ihegboro
Corruption, lack of awareness and long wait being experienced before adopting a child from registered agencies, have been highlighted as some of the many factors that fuel demand of people to patronize nefarious baby factory operators.
These factors were noted in the ‘Stakeholders – Media Engagement On Human Trafficking And Child Abuse In Nigeria: Successes And Challenges Of Law Enforcement’, which took place recently in Lagos.
According to the convener, Mr. Okey Nwanguma, of the Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC), the forum which was done in collaboration with the Nigeria Policing Programme (NPP) was to raise more awareness and make people realise that tackling the menace of Human Trafficking and Child Abuse is the responsibility of all Nigerians.
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Speaking on the evils of operating baby factory, Comfort Sanni, an officer from National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), explained that peoples’ desperation for a child leads to exploring the illicit options by patronising dubious operators of illegal orphanages.
“Many Nigerians don’t know the procedures to legally adopt children, and that is one angle NAPTIP is working hard to create more awareness. We want people to realise that there’s nothing wrong with adopting babies and to dissuade the mindset that child adoption is not proof of one’s inability to conceive.
Sanni urged Nigerians to explore legal ways to adopt a child, and shun paying hefty sums to the baby factory operators. “ we encourage Nigerians to explore avenues of legal adoption of babies. Instead of paying N350, 000 to N400, 000 for a girl child, and N600, 000 to 700, 000 for a boy child.”
Also, Gloria Egbuji, the Executive Director at the Crime Victims Foundation of Nigeria (CVFN) further revealed the horrible activities in baby factories and gingered on NAPTIP to join forces with credible stakeholders in steaming the prevalence of child abuse and human trafficking.
“Baby factories are not just for illegal adoption but for the harvesting of stem cells. NAPTIP should try and engage private prosecutors to strengthen the prosecution team in getting the criminals to face the law”.
