Benue’s Hidden Trade in Children: Hundreds of Girls Intercepted as Trafficking Network Expands
For some families, the disappearance of a daughter begins with what sounds like good news.
Someone offers her a job in Lagos. Another promises employment in a different Nigerian city, while others speak of opportunities abroad. The assurances are convincing: regular income, accommodation and the chance to lift the family out of poverty. Sometimes, the offer comes from someone the family knows and trusts.
But the journey can end far from what the girl was promised.
A phone disappears. Familiar faces give way to strangers. The destination changes, and the young girl gradually realises that the opportunity she accepted may have been a carefully planned trap. Some victims never make it home alive, while those who survive may return with painful experiences of sexual exploitation, forced labour and abuse.
In Benue State, this disturbing pattern is unfolding against a backdrop of insecurity, mass displacement and deepening economic hardship. As violence continues to drive families from their ancestral homes, vulnerable children are being left exposed to people willing to exploit their desperation.
One man attempting to confront the problem is 36-year-old anti-trafficking campaigner Sughnen Yaaya. The figures he has disclosed offer a troubling picture of the scale of the crisis.
Yaaya says that since March 2026, he has intercepted 573 girls from Benue who were at risk of being trafficked within Nigeria. He also reports that 103 others have been brought back from Ghana, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and other countries.
More disturbing is his claim that approximately 32 Benue girls have died abroad in circumstances connected to trafficking.
According to Yaaya, these interceptions often happen before the girls can be taken out of the country. Some are identified at motor parks, while others are stopped along their routes.
The figures are his account of the operations, but they raise an urgent question: how many other vulnerable girls are still travelling towards destinations where exploitation awaits them?
A campaign that comes with personal risks
Yaaya says his involvement in the fight against trafficking grew from witnessing the plight of vulnerable young people and recognising how easily their circumstances could be exploited.
He acknowledges that he cannot single-handedly end kidnapping or the insecurity affecting Benue. However, he believes that identifying trafficking routes, disrupting the movement of potential victims and warning families about deceptive employment offers are practical ways to make a difference.
The work has exposed him to threats and financial difficulties.
According to the campaigner, some people he identifies as traffickers, along with members of their families, have tried to intimidate him because of his activities. He also says he has no personal security detail and depends on faith and assistance from individuals who believe in his mission.
Speaking about the risks, Yaaya admitted that fear follows him as he continues the work.
His predicament highlights another challenge confronting anti-trafficking efforts: those who attempt to disrupt these operations may face pressure, while their limited resources restrict how many potential victims they can reach.
Yet Yaaya is not the only person drawing attention to the problem. Organisations working across Nigeria and other African countries are also trying to prevent vulnerable children from falling into the hands of traffickers.
Why some families become part of the problem
The Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Africa, known as NIDO Africa, has visited Benue twice in 2026 as part of its campaign against human trafficking and drug abuse.
During a sensitisation programme held in June at Government Model Secondary School, Makurdi, the organisation’s Continental Chairman, Professor Jude Osakwe, called for laws imposing severe penalties on parents and guardians who knowingly facilitate the trafficking of their children or wards.
Osakwe expressed concern that some families allow young people to leave home after receiving promises of employment, without adequately establishing who is taking them, where they are going or what kind of work awaits them.
The danger, he explained, is that offers involving restaurants and other legitimate-sounding businesses can conceal plans for sexual exploitation, prostitution or forced labour.
For families struggling to survive, the promise of employment elsewhere can be difficult to reject. But when proper checks are ignored, the very people expected to protect a child may unknowingly expose that child to danger.
In more troubling circumstances, parents or guardians may knowingly cooperate with those arranging the journeys.
NIDO Africa says its anti-trafficking efforts over the past two years have led to the rescue of numerous children. The organisation has also established task forces in countries including Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire to support the identification, arrest and prosecution of suspected traffickers.
However, bringing victims home is only part of the challenge.
Osakwe explained that some rescued children remain vulnerable because they return without the financial means to support themselves. Without education, vocational training or another reliable source of income, they may once again be tempted by offers that appear to promise a better life.
NIDO Africa is therefore planning vocational and skills-acquisition centres to help survivors develop practical abilities and become less dependent on risky employment arrangements.
The organisation has also taken its campaign into schools and grassroots communities, emphasising that preventing trafficking before a child leaves home is preferable to attempting a rescue after exploitation has occurred.
In Benue, that message has become especially urgent because displacement has weakened the family and community structures that ordinarily help protect children.
Yelewata: When displacement creates another danger
The scale of the problem became particularly visible after the deadly attack on Yelewata in June 2025.
The violence reportedly left hundreds of children separated from their communities, creating an enormous challenge for families and authorities trying to establish where they had gone and who was caring for them.
Hembadoon Kuma, the Makurdi Zonal Commander of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, said more than 400 children had been taken away from Yelewata.
According to Kuma, the agency subsequently rescued 100 children. Of that number, 97 had been reunited with their families, while three remained at a NAPTIP shelter as officials continued efforts to locate their parents.
Some of the children had been taken to Abia, Rivers, Imo and Enugu states.
The case illustrates how a child separated from familiar surroundings can become difficult to trace. When families are scattered by violence and children lose access to school, stable accommodation and trusted adults, identifying who is genuinely offering assistance becomes much harder.
An invitation to travel may appear to be an escape from hardship rather than a warning sign.
Kuma says this is why the fight against trafficking requires cooperation beyond NAPTIP. Government institutions, transport operators, community leaders, civil society groups and families all have roles to play.
The agency’s collaboration with NIDO Africa and other organisations is intended to strengthen that wider response.
But one of the most important parts of the effort begins before a suspected victim reaches an international border.
It begins at the motor park.
How transport operators are helping to intercept victims
Benue Links, the state-owned transport company, has become part of the campaign to identify and return potential trafficking victims.
Its General Manager, Comrade Alexander Fanafa, said the company had intercepted and transported approximately 250 trafficked persons or people considered to be at risk back to their communities as of August 2026.
The company’s terminals have become points where suspicious travel arrangements can be examined before a journey continues.
According to Fanafa, monitoring officers have received training to pay attention to adults travelling with children, as well as situations involving girls and accompanying adults who do not share a surname.
When a journey raises concerns, the adults and children may be separated and questioned about their relationship, destination and reasons for travelling.
Cases that warrant further investigation are referred to NAPTIP, the police, the Department of State Services or other relevant authorities.
These checks are intended to identify possible victims before they disappear into unfamiliar locations or are moved beyond the reach of their families.
Fanafa also said the company had been directed to transport legitimate trafficking victims found anywhere in Nigeria back to Benue without charging them, while helping to facilitate their reunion with relatives.
The initiative, however, has financial implications.
The general manager disclosed that Benue Links had virtually lost the profit it previously made on its Lagos route because victims were being transported without payment.
Even so, the intervention reflects an important principle: transport companies can do more than move passengers from one location to another. With appropriate safeguards and cooperation with trained authorities, they can also help identify people who may be travelling under coercion or deceptive arrangements.
However, suspicious circumstances alone do not establish that a crime has occurred. Proper questioning, careful assessment and referral to the appropriate authorities remain essential to avoid wrongly accusing legitimate travellers or separating families without justification.
Rescue is only the beginning
Getting a victim home does not automatically end the danger.
A girl returning from exploitation may have spent months or years away from her family. The job she expected to find may never have existed, and the income she was promised may have been replaced by abuse, deprivation and fear.
She may also face the difficult task of rebuilding relationships, recovering emotionally and deciding how to continue her education or earn a living.
Without meaningful support, the circumstances that made her vulnerable in the first place may still be waiting for her.
This is why the wife of the Tor Tiv, Professor Felicia Ayati, has become involved in efforts to support rescued victims.
Fanafa said Ayati had shown interest in girls brought to the Tor Tiv’s palace, where she speaks with them, offers support and encourages them to acquire practical skills before returning to their families.
Such assistance can help survivors begin rebuilding their lives rather than returning to the same economic desperation that made deceptive offers attractive.
But the wider response must extend beyond individual acts of support. Sustainable reintegration requires access to education, vocational training, psychosocial care and legitimate opportunities to earn an income.
Otherwise, a successful rescue may only interrupt a cycle that remains capable of repeating itself.
Poverty and insecurity are driving the crisis
Francis Odiir, Secretary of the Campaign for Equal Rights and Opportunities for all Nigerians, CERON, identified poverty and insecurity as major factors contributing to trafficking in Benue.
He expressed concern about the number of teenagers among those affected, noting that their vulnerability makes them particularly susceptible to sexual exploitation.
Odiir called on the Benue State Government to respond urgently, arguing that worsening living conditions and insecurity have created circumstances in which traffickers can prey on desperate families.
His assessment points to a problem that cannot be solved through arrests alone.
When families lose their homes, livelihoods and access to education, the pressure to accept opportunities elsewhere can become overwhelming. Traffickers exploit that pressure by presenting themselves as employers, travel facilitators or people willing to help a struggling family.
The challenge for authorities is to distinguish genuine opportunities from deceptive arrangements while ensuring that vulnerable children have realistic alternatives to risky journeys.
That requires more effective investigations, stronger protection for displaced children, public education about recruitment tactics and consequences for those who knowingly facilitate exploitation.
It also requires better coordination between agencies responsible for security, child protection, transportation and social welfare.
The question Benue can no longer ignore
The accounts emerging from Benue describe a crisis that reaches far beyond the moment a suspected trafficker is arrested or a missing child is returned home.
The reported interceptions, international returns and deaths linked to trafficking point to the need for sustained investigation, prevention and survivor support. The figures cited by campaigners and officials also require careful documentation so authorities can establish the full scale of the problem and identify the networks responsible.
For children displaced by violence, the danger may not end when the immediate fighting stops. They can remain exposed to exploitation if their families cannot find secure accommodation, education or a dependable means of survival.
The responsibility, therefore, extends to government institutions, transport companies, schools, community leaders, parents and organisations working with survivors.
Families must investigate employment offers before allowing children to travel with unfamiliar people. Transport operators must continue cooperating with the relevant authorities. Government agencies must pursue credible reports, investigate suspected networks and ensure that rescued children receive appropriate care.
Most importantly, survivors need a path towards a stable future, not merely a journey back to where their ordeal began.
For a young girl promised a better life in another city or country, the decisive moment may come before she leaves home, when someone takes the time to question the offer and establish whether it is genuine.
In Benue, the fight against child trafficking will ultimately be measured not only by how many victims are intercepted or brought home, but by whether fewer children become targets in the first place.
(Source: Vanguard Newspapers)
