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The Plateau State government has vowed to prosecute anyone found engaging in child trafficking across the 17 Local Government Areas of the state.
The State Commissioner for Information, Musa Ashoms, made this known to Arewa PUNCH in Jos on Thursday.
Ashoms stressed that such acts of criminality would not be condoned in any part of the state.
The Commissioner was reacting to a development involving 39 children of Plateau State origin who were trafficked to Abuja and other parts of the country but who were traced and repatriated back to the state last week.
Ashoms disclosed that some members of the cartel involved in the illicit business had been arrested by security agents and were undergoing further investigation in their custody.
According to the Commissioner, although 39 of the trafficked children were returned to the state, further investigation revealed that three of the victims were still missing and could not be accounted for by the traffickers.
He explained further, “There is a cartel in Plateau State that links up with parents to traffic their children to Abuja and other parts of the country.
“As we speak, we have a woman from Barkin Ladi LGA and some of her accomplices in custody.
“So far, we have brought back 39 of the trafficked children, but three children have still not been accounted for, and we don’t know whether they were sold or not.”
Ashoms, who described the activities of the child traffickers as wicked, added, “During our investigation, we got to a point where we discovered that they sold a male child for N200,000 and a female child for N150,000. That is the height of wickedness, and it is very painful. In our investigation, we realised that parents even wrote an agreement that they would never come after their children after handing them over to the traffickers. You see children between the ages of four and eight in orphanages when their parents are still alive.
“Some of them operate illicit orphanage homes, and they claim to love these children when, in reality, they are engaged in child trafficking. We also realised that the owners of these orphanages get rewarded by foreign donors because they are doing a great job, not knowing that the opposite is the case.
“So, as a government, we frown against parents leaving their children in the care of people they don’t know. It’s quite painful that we are going through such an experience.
“As a government, we continue to educate our people on the need for them to train their children. They should not release their children to people they do not have a connection with because a lot of things happen in between.
“From our investigation, we realised that these children’s names were changed and their surnames changed as well because they want them to forget their ancestry completely. We saw a boy from Plateau whose name and state were changed because they wanted him and the others to forget where they came from so that in the coming years, they become people nobody knows. These are some of the issues we have detected.”
As a result, the Commissioner prevailed on the different religious bodies and the traditional institutions in the state, as well as other stakeholders, to mobilise on how to tackle the challenge
He also advised parents to always endeavour to train their children by themselves and warned them against handing over their children and wards to strangers to train them on their behalf no matter the challenge as that could lead to child trafficking.
“We want to thank the Ministry for Women Affairs and Social Development for going all the hug in the repatriation of the 39 trafficked children back to the state, even as he stressed the need for those living in the neighborhood to be vigilant.
“The community members should ask questions about one another from time to time. We know we are living in a challenging time, but how does selling your child solve the problem?
“Again, trafficking these children is difficult because it is easier for the parents to do so than for the government to do so. But we won’t allow any form of children trafficking in the state.
“So,the police and other law enforcement agents are still investigating the matter, and as soon as we get more reports on it, we will make it known to members of the public.
“But, what the government is doing right now is to repatriate these children from the orphanage homes
“As a government, we will continue to engage the traditional institutions, religious bodies, as well as parents on how to address these problems but those who are engaged in this illegal activities might be few but anyone found to be engaged in child trafficking or child labour or whatever name it is called will be prosecuted by this administration accordingly,” the commissioner threatened.
