NAPTIP DG Raises Alarm Over Emerging Human Trafficking Trends, Including Organ Harvesting

The Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Hajiya Binta Bello, has issued a stark warning about the evolving landscape of human trafficking in Nigeria, highlighting the disturbing trend of traffickers deceiving victims with false job opportunities and harvesting their organs.

Speaking at a press conference outlining activities planned for this year’s World Day Against Human Trafficking, Bello emphasized that the fight against human trafficking is facing new challenges daily.

“It should interest all that the fight against human trafficking has continued to take new dimensions with emerging trends daily. This is coupled with new destinations and further exploitation of victims,” she stated.

Bello lamented a series of disturbing and increasingly prevalent tactics employed by traffickers, including:

Fake Job Opportunities and Scholarships: Victims are lured with promises of employment and education in foreign countries, only to be exploited upon arrival.

Recruitment as Marketing Agents: Unsuspecting individuals are recruited to market products with the hidden intention of exploiting them.

Online Scams: Youths are recruited for “Yahoo-Yahoo” and other online scams within Nigeria, Ghana, and other West African countries.

Online Trafficking/Sextortion: Activities such as revenge porn and online loan schemes are used to trap victims into forced prostitution and exploitation.
Baby Factories
Organ Harvesting

The Director General noted that while the crime of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) is becoming more complex and interconnected with other forms of violence, particularly affecting women, children, persons with disabilities, and the elderly, NAPTIP continues to operate effectively within its mandate. The agency utilises the “5Ps” strategy: Prevention, Partnership, Policy, Protection, and Prosecution, resulting in increased awareness, collaboration, policy development, victim rescue and rehabilitation, and offender prosecution.

“Our resolve to tackle human trafficking in Nigeria is firm and unequivocal, and we shall continue to scale our strategies to outsmart the traffickers,” Bello declared.

She emphasized that NAPTIP will increase coordination to empower state and non-state actors to detect and report trafficking cases and has strengthened its Cybercrime Squad, aligning it with the Joint Case Team on Cybercrime (JCTC) to address online recruitment and exploitation.

Furthermore, NAPTIP has reinforced its collaboration with other law enforcement agencies and intelligence communities to enhance surveillance and interception efforts, and is working to strengthen counter-trafficking legal instruments with neighboring countries.

“Human trafficking is a visible threat to National Development. It is a crime that weakens the foundation and pillars of any nation, with women and youth as the main target. So, we must set aside any rivalry; we must join hands together and ensure the protection of Nigerians,” Bello urged.

Echoing NAPTIP’s commitment, the Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Mr. Cheikh Toure, reaffirmed UNODC’s unwavering support for Nigeria in combating human trafficking. “This year’s theme “Human Trafficking is Organised Crime: End the Exploitation” demands we recognize a stark reality: trafficking is not incidental crime, but a calculated, transnational enterprise profiting from the vulnerability of our women, children, and men,” Toure stated.

Toure pledged UNODC’s continued partnership with Nigeria, working with government, civil society, and survivors to dismantle criminal networks, protect victims, and build a future where no Nigerian is bought or sold. “The time for decisive action is now,” he concluded.