Parents sell children for N4,000 in Makurdi

REPORTS have indicated that parents in Makurdi, the
Benue State capital, were involved in the sale of their
children to human traffickers at the sum of N4,000 or
N5,000 per ward.
This was revealed when the Quick Response Group
Team of the Nigerian Army in Lokoja arrested one
human trafficking suspect, Mr. Sunday Agbo, from
Benue state.
Parading the suspect to newsmen on Friday at the
Army Headquarters, the Commandant of Army
Record, Major General Alphonso Chukwu said the
suspect was arrested alongside 10 children, both
male and female, on July 26 by his Quick Response
Group Team, along Itobe-Ajaokuta road.
According to him, the suspect who hails from Obi
Local Government Council of Benue State was
arrested in a ash colour Toyota Camry car with the
registration number CW 322 LSD with 10 children,
comprising of six males and four females between
the ages of seven and 19 heading to Lagos state.
He stated that when the suspect was confronted by
his men, he said that the children belonged to him,
but after further interrogation, he confessed that
they were handed over to him by his agent, one
Madam Janet Akpa, from the same village and that
he was asked to deliver them to another agent in
Lagos.
The Army Commandant stressed that investigations
revealed that Agbo had been trafficking children by
discussing with the parents and offering a mere sum
of N4,000 or N5,000 naira under the pretext of
getting them jobs in Lagos as househelps.
The Army Commandant who enjoined parents to be
vigilant so as not to fall prey of the human traffickers,
stressed that the children were most vulnerable to
ritualists.
One of the children, Blessing Jacob, who said she had
just finished her promotional examination to SSS 2
said she was told to follow the suspect to Lagos for
her holiday where she would work for a while.
While still waiting for further details, the suspect
received a text message from the agent in Lagos that
one of the children he earlier brought to Lagos had
absconded from the house.
While speaking with the suspect, he disclosed to
Sunday Tribune that this was not his first time,
adding that parents of the children were given a
token amount of money ranging from N4000 to
N5000 for each of the children.