It was not something Abia was known for and it definitely was not a business venture. But today, child trafficking has become a big time business and a steady source of survival.
It is no longer news that the baby trade industry thrives in every nook and cranny of Abia communities and the adjoining states.
Many residents know the traders, where they operate, but watch helplessly. No thanks to dwindling sense of values, the society is gradually drifting back to the slave trade era when those who cannot fend for their many children, sold some and use the proceeds to cater for the others.
How it started
The good book says that children are blessings from the Lord, but in some parts of the South East and the South South, children have become wares from the factory, and only those with good money can purchase them. This is an apt description of what goes on in Abia state. What has become popularly known as “baby factory” came to the open in the state in 2006, when one Ben Ezinma, the Programme Manager of a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in the state, Child Rights Network (CHIRN), drew the attention of the state government to the sale of babies by some unscrupulous persons, motherless babies homes and orphanages in the state.
Ezinma said then, that the privately owned homes were channels for child trafficking and slavery in the state and urged the government to investigate the process of child adoption, because it had been grossly abused. He described what went on then as, “neo-trafficking” in the name of adoption, adding that the price of a child was as high as N200,000 depending on the sex or state of health of the baby.
Before the child trade boom, dumping of children was commonplace and people with dubious business sense, realizing that the dumped children could be source of joy for childless couples, exploited the situation to make money. Consequently, organized baby racketeering drastically reduced child-dumping cases. Initially, it was not seen as illegal because some ‘smart’ people just set up homes where young girls with unwanted pregnancies came to give birth, gave up their babies and returned home to their parents as if nothing had happened. The new babies were later sold to those in need. Thus, many people set up child trade outlets and anyone with enough money walked in and smiled home with a baby of his or her choice.
Disturbing statistics
In 2007, 19 girls were rescued from a cartel that operated between Aba and Port Harcourt in Rivers state and in 2008, 13 girls were rescued from 80-year-old Grace Erondu. Another 14 girls were rescued from Divine Mercy and Childcare Home at 2, Nwankpe Street, Aba, managed by Felicia Ebe in 2008, and 42 others rescued from Nma Child Care/Charity Centre.
Then in 2008, seven pregnant girls were rescued in Enugu. In 2009, over six baby factories were sealed with hundreds of pregnant young girls released. In January and March 2010, 40 and 37 girls were rescued respectively in Abia. In April 2013, 20 pregnant girls were found in a home in Anambra state. The list is endless.
Reactions to a wild fire
Ezinma who is also president of Civil Society Coalition Against Human Trafficking and sale of babies in Nigeria (SCAHT), said that his organization conducted a survey on baby factories in 2006, in Abia state and likened what it discovered to a wild fire.
“They operated without regulations as it was an all-comers affair. It was at this point that government and some relevant agencies became interested in the matter. We wrote petitions after which some organizations including National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP). It was at this point that government stepped in. Before this time, many did not know what was going on. It was after this period that people started hearing about closure of homes, arrests of offenders, their prosecution, etc. They invited us for series of meetings to authenticate our petitions, followed by the invitation from the state government, Ministry of Women Affairs and others, and the matter was looked into seriously and some of the outlets for this illegal activities were sealed up”, Ezinma said.
Reason for upsurge
A secondary school teacher, Mr Christian Ukandu, attributed the increase in teenage pregnancies to mass poverty.
“Poverty is the major factor causing teenage pregnancy. Most families find it difficult to feed three times daily and as a result, they lose control of their children. Peer pressure eventually lures them into social vices including unwanted pregnancy. Child trafficking is on the increase and the root cause of it is poverty. As a teacher, I have observed that teenagers become uncontrollable at a particular stage of their lives, and it takes the true concentration of parents to notice this and re-direct them, because once they are not put right at this stage, it is finished”, Ukandu said.
Before the emergence of baby factories, there were orphanages, where abandoned children or those whose parents died, were reared. The orphanages are not for young pregnant girls looking for a way out of their predicament. Today, the conventional motherless babies’ homes have lost out to baby factories. The ‘factories’ recruit and camp pregnant young girls, mostly teenagers. They allegedly hypnotize, coerce or lure some of their victims into getting pregnant and keep them until they give birth for a ready couple waiting to buy. Unlike the motherless babies homes, the baby factories are absolutely illegal. Also, in motherless babies homes, there is a process of adoption but in baby factories, it is outright sale of babies to the highest bidder. While baby factories do their business in clandestine manner, with the sole objective of exploiting their victims, the motherless babies homes enjoy official backing.
The way out
On the way out of the ugly trend, Ezinma said: “If you want to get these people out of business, you have to dry their source of supply, which is the teenage girls. If the source of a river dries up, the river stops flowing. If the process that makes young girls get pregnant is put in check, most of these homes will close down.
“Other problems are poverty and ignorance. Poverty must be tacked on all fronts. Some of the girls get pregnant by accident and once they find themselves in any of these homes, they are hypnotized or encouraged to stay longer and get the money they would use to start a business thereafter. In some cases, they are told to stay back and have more babies to earn more. After all, they just sit in a place, get fed and impregnated, and when they deliver, money is given to them. So, what have they to lose?
“What we need is aggressive reproductive health education so that people will be well informed. In the beginning, the boy’s intention was not to impregnate the girl, but once it happens and the girl finds herself in that situation, the evil ones go to work. She would be lectured on the advantages of what she has done, but nobody would tell her the disadvantages”, Ezinma said.
Why the trade thrives in South East
The SCAHT president told Sunday Sun that the fear of stigmatization in the South East often pushes many pregnant girls to the baby factories. He said: “In the South East for instance, we need cultural re-orientation to tell parents that a girl getting pregnant outside wedlock, does not make her an outcast. To the people of the South East, it is a taboo for a young girl to get pregnant when she is not married. The society will taunt her and her parents and label them irresponsible and in some places, ostracize or even fine them some huge sum of money. This makes some of the girls to bolt, in order not to bring shame to their families and in the process, fall into the hands of these baby factory owners who welcome them with open arms.
“Some parents encourage their pregnant daughters to go to those factories to avoid shame. The way the society in the South East perceives teenage pregnancy and unmarried girls is what makes them run away from home to a ‘safer ground’ and this could land them in baby factories.
But in the West for instance, if a young girl got pregnant, her parents would not chase her away. There is almost nothing as a bastard there, because all they need from the girl is to identify who is responsible for her pregnancy and once he admits, little ceremonies are performed and she moves on.”
Unenviable image
Checks by Sunday Sun revealed that the issue has become so rampant that when anyone talks about baby factory, the next place people refer to, is Abia state in particular, and the South East in general. If you talk about a missing pregnant girl, you are advised to look for her in Aba. Within this month (April) alone, the Civil Defence Corps and the Police have made startling discoveries about baby factories in the state. The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps rescued 32 teenage girls in various stages of pregnancy from Chigemezu Care Centre in Umuzuo community in Osisioma Local Government Area of Abia state. Just last week, a pregnant mother of two who was tricked out of her matrimonial home in Imo state, to Aba in Abia state by her friend that had made arrangements for buyers of her nine-month-old pregnancy, was paraded by the Commissioner of Police, Mr Usman Tilli. The police rescued the victim, Ogechi Eberendu from Imo state, while she was being induced to deliver the baby for a waiting buyer. The police arrested five suspects including four females, for the alleged crime and hinted that they would soon be charged to court. The suspects came from Rivers, Imo and Anambra states for the purchase of the unborn child, a pointer to Abia state’s growing but unenviable image as the home of a booming illegal baby trade.
The Public Relations Officer of NSCDC, Mr Ogbonna Victor, whose organization rescued the teenage girls, said they were taken to the Ministry of Women Affairs for necessary action after interviewing them. According to him, the normal thing is that the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP) would receive the girls, carry out further investigation into the matter and bring them and the suspect back for prosecution. But he stated that NAPTIP was yet to establish an office in Abia and for that reason, anything could have happened. He urged the state government to do something fast about it.
A source at the Ministry of Women Affairs said that while some of the girls who are not natives of the state had been sent back to their states, those from the state and the suspect, Mrs Nnenna Mba, were sent to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for prosecution. But Ogbonna wondered why the ministry took the girls to the police, whereas the NSCDC rescued them and arrested the suspect, adding that the Corps ought to prosecute them.
“I don’t know why they decided to send the woman to the State CID for prosecution. Maybe, it’s because the woman’s husband is a policeman. You know that NSCDC does not do magomago in any matter. We are always straight in whatever we do”, the PRO said.
The whereabouts of the teenage pregnant girls became an issue following enquiries by a Lagos-based Non-Governmental Organization that had assured that its foreign partners would assist them. The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs Ugoeze Joy Alozie could not be reached for comments on the matter as at press time.
Need for legislation
Speaking to Sunday Sun on the whereabouts of the girls, Ezinma said that they could move into another baby factory. “However, the government has a role to play in this matter. The state House of Assembly should enact a law criminalizing the abandonment or chasing out of pregnant young girls by their parents and stopping people from ostracizing such girls. It will give the young girls protection and safe landing. Some of the girls are looking for a way to survive; so after having their babies, they just disappear.
“Government should ensure that it becomes a crime to ostracize, banish or reject pregnant girls, parents and families by communities. If there is such a law, people will become apprehensive when deciding on such matters. Those who impregnate girls and abandon them should also be regarded as criminals. Abia State Government should give NAPTIP an office so that they can flush out these criminals giving the state a negative image.
“The state has been stereotyped as a baby factory state. Government should encourage agencies that ought to handle this matter. This problem has gone beyond the Ministry of Women Affairs. When you talk about sale of babies, it appears light, but we are talking about human lives. The international community should do something because it has become a problem that all human beings must address. These innocent lives are sold, sometimes or most times, for destruction”, he stated.
[SunNews]