How criminals exploited Benue’s conflicts to traffic children, women

From the place she sat beneath a mango tree beside two huts and an outdated three-bedroom bungalow, Hembadoon Tervershima watched a motorbike flip onto the slender footpath that ended within the compound.

Since the disappearance of her daughter in May 2024, the 42-year-old widow has lived together with her mom. Two years later, the sight or sound of a automobile approaching the compound nonetheless takes her thoughts again to her daughter.

“I still wait for her every day,” she stated quietly. “Sometimes I thought I heard her voice.”

Joy Tervershima was 15 when she left for varsity one morning in Zaki Biam, headquarters of Ukum Local Government Area in Benue State. That was the final time a member of the family noticed her. Her disappearance got here years after armed attackers displaced her household and hundreds of different residents from their ancestral house in Guma Local Government Area. The household settled in Zaki Biam with their two daughters, hoping to rebuild their lives away from the battle. That hope was short-lived.

Months handed earlier than the household heard from police investigators that Joy had been trafficked by way of Lagos to Libya. Then, someday, practically a yr after she vanished, she referred to as from a global code.

According to Mrs Tervershima, Joy stated a person she knew in Zaki Biam had lured her and a number of other different ladies with a promise of jobs overseas.

“When they got to Libya, they realised they had been taken there for prostitution,” her mom stated.

Joy instructed her household that lots of the ladies she travelled with from Benue died through the journey. She has spoken to her mom solely twice since that decision. The quantity has been unreachable.

“I don’t know if she is alive or dead,” her mom stated.

Joy’s father died in December 2024 after struggling a stroke. Mrs Tervershima later heard that the suspected trafficker was well-known across the Zaki Biam International Yam Market. His whereabouts are actually unknown.

The promise

Hundreds of kilometres away in one other rural a part of Benue, one other trafficking community was focusing on susceptible youngsters with the identical guarantees of jobs.

Among these drawn in had been two 17-year-olds, Chivirter and Kashimana, from Logo Local Government Area. The two mates had grown up in rural communities the place incessant violent assaults had disrupted farming and different technique of livelihood.

According to the ladies, a relative of one in every of them had supplied them jobs in Benin City, Edo State. Neither teenager instructed her mother and father earlier than leaving with the person.

At the time, Chivirter’s mom, Nancy, was in Taraba State. “I was shocked,” she stated. “Nobody knew where she had gone.”

The journey

The ladies stated their journey to Benin City lasted practically two days, throughout which they handed a number of safety checkpoints.

“The security people only asked for money,” Kashimana stated. “Nobody asked us where we were going.”

In Benin City, the ladies had been handed over to totally different women.

Kashimana’s “Madam” was one Mama Osas within the Akiwa space of the Edo State capital.

Chivirter had entry to a cell phone, which she used to organise her escape. Within per week, she fled again to Benue.

“I called my parents and told them I had been trafficked,” she stated. “I told them I wanted to return home.”

Kashimana remained in Benin City for greater than a yr and instructed her mother and father that she had married.

“I knew they were worried,” she stated. “I wanted them to move on.”

Life after trafficking

Kashimana stated she was not compelled into prostitution. “I heard about it because other girls were doing it,” she stated.

She additionally alleged that Atsuku pressured her to invite different ladies from Benue, providing between ₦90,000 and ₦120,000 for every individual she introduced into the community.

Both ladies have since returned to Benue, however their households stated the expertise continues to have an effect on them. Chivirter’s father stated she grew to become withdrawn after returning house.

“She is no longer the same person,” he stated. “The experience changed her.”

Kashimana’s kin described an identical change. Before leaving Benue, the 2 mates had been lively in church actions, together with attending Sunday college. However, since their return, Kashimana has not often participated.

“We feel ashamed,” Chivirter stated. “We are always scared.”

The misplaced kids

PREMIUM TIMES discovered that traffickers focused a unique kind of victims within the Guma Local Government Area of Benue State. Instead of particular person youngsters, they aim conflict-displaced households, providing training, meals, and lodging for his or her kids.

Posing as support employees, they inform mother and father their kids would attend college and return house throughout Christmas and Easter holidays.

Among these approached was Lucy Emmanuel, a 31-year-old widow. Her husband died in January 2024, leaving her to care for his or her two kids – Rejoice, 8, and Michael, 5. She fled from the frequent violence of their village and settled in Yelewata.

When the supposed support employees initially approached her in June 2024, she rejected their provide.

“I had only my two children left,” Mrs Emmanuel recalled. “I cannot give them away.”

She stated kin finally persuaded her that the programme might safe a greater future for the youngsters.

Like dozens of different mother and father, Mrs Emmanuel believed she was sending her kids to college.

PREMIUM TIMES interviewed different mother and father of trafficked kids within the space, together with Monica Ayangealumun, mom of Blessing Oliver, 7, and Doose Oliver, 4; and 35-year-old Adiza Yusuf, mom of Terna Yusuf, 6, and Vendaga Yusuf, 8.

The newspaper’s findings point out that greater than 300 kids had been taken from communities in Guma Local Government Area in 2024 by way of the scheme.

Even when Mrs Emmanuel’s kids didn’t return house for Christmas in December 2024, she continued to consider they had been secure. However, after they didn’t for Easter 2025, she realised one thing was mistaken.

Then, in June 2025, Yelewata got here beneath a lethal assault during which greater than 100 individuals had been killed. Interviews performed by PREMIUM TIMES indicated that some mother and father whose kids had disappeared within the trafficking scheme had been amongst these killed. Survivors fled once more, scattering households who had been already looking for their lacking kids.

Mrs Emmanuel moved into the International Market Internally Displaced Persons camp in Makurdi, the place NAPTIP later reunited her with one of many kids, Rejoice. Michael stays lacking.

Behind the programme

Further reporting traced the trafficking to the National Council of Child Rights Advocates of Nigeria (NACCRAN), an organisation established in 2001, purportedly to promote kids’s rights and coordinate youngster safety actions.

Among its initiatives is a “Back-to-School” programme supposed to assist susceptible and out-of-school kids entry training by way of neighborhood engagement and academic assist.

The programme was allegedly exploited to recruit kids from conflict-affected communities in Guma, significantly Yelewata, Daudu and Agban.

According to NAPTIP, greater than 300 kids, aged between one and 13 years, had been taken from the three communities. Some mother and father signed consent kinds, whereas others gave verbal approval after being instructed their kids would return house after three years.

The company recognized Anderson Archibong, government secretary of NACCRAN, because the alleged mastermind of the operation.

Dillo Ibrahim, head of Intelligence and International Cooperation at NAPTIP’s Makurdi Zonal Command, stated the company’s investigation started on 1 May 2025 after a person petitioned NAPTIP over a case involving his four-year-old son. He alleged that his mother-in-law had handed over the kid to an NGO with out his consent and that he was instructed he might solely see the kid after three years.

The criticism led to arrests in Daudu and, in accordance to NAPTIP, investigators uncovered a wider community concerned in trafficking and unlawful adoption.

Mr Ibrahim stated the suspects focused communities the place farmer-herder violence had displaced residents. They offered the programme to conventional rulers and villagers as an avenue for offering susceptible kids with training and care.

NAPTIP additionally recognized one Mercy Akema, who allegedly offered herself as an indigene of Guma, as a key determine within the operation.

“Ms Akema claimed she was from that axis,” Mr Ibrahim instructed PREMIUM TIMES. “That was one of the major reasons the people trusted them.”

According to the company, kids collected from Yelewata, Daudu and Agban had been transported, typically in Mr Archibong’s private automobile, to orphanage houses in Abuja and Nasarawa earlier than being distributed to different components of the nation.

NAPTIP stated Mr Archibong carried paperwork figuring out him as a baby rights advocate.

“He had the formal identification to show security agencies who he was and that he had legal custody of the children.”

The company recognized 4 orphanage houses allegedly used as transit centres: Divine Orphanage Home in Abuja; Zion Gate Orphanage in Mararaba, Nasarawa State; Divine ABN in Masaka, Nasarawa State; and Touch a Child Orphanage Home in Enugu State.

NAPTIP alleged that a number of the kids had been offered to potential adopters for between ₦1 million and ₦3 million every. One complainant instructed investigators that he paid ₦2.8 million as an adoption charge and an extra ₦100,000 consultancy charge.

“The striking issue is that the names of the children were changed,” Mr Ibrahim stated. “The buyers gave them new names.”

NAPTIP stated it has thus far rescued 105 kids linked to the operation. Of these, 101 have been reunited with their households, whereas 4 stay within the company’s custody as officers proceed efforts to hint their kin.

The rescued kids had been discovered throughout a number of states: 39 within the Federal Capital Territory, 12 in Abia, 11 in Lagos, eight in Nasarawa, seven in Aba, six every in Enugu, Anambra and Niger, 5 in Rivers and 4 in Imo. Mr Ibrahim stated investigators had recognized extra victims in Abia and deliberate additional rescue operations, topic to logistical assist.

“In the course of our investigation, we have not seen anyone who was taken for ritual purposes,” Mr Ibrahim stated. “It is mainly for financial gain. The demand for children is very high, especially among people who have been unable to have children of their own.”

Mr Archibong has been arraigned in reference to the Benue case, in accordance to NAPTIP. The company stated he was granted bail at one level however was later rearrested after allegedly making an attempt to recruit extra kids in Nasarawa State.

Mr Akema has additionally been arraigned, whereas investigations into different members of the alleged syndicate proceed.

“We are optimistic,” Mr Ibrahim stated. “Anybody involved in this syndicate is going to face the law.”

An official of NAPTIP’s Lafia Zonal Command, who requested anonymity as a result of the matter is earlier than the court docket, additionally confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Archibong is dealing with a separate trafficking prosecution in Nasarawa State involving greater than 200 kids. The official stated he was being held on the Lafia Custodial Centre.

PREMIUM TIMES’ efforts to communicate with Mr Archibong’s lawyer failed.

The ladies who by no means returned

While Chivirter escaped inside weeks and Kashimana returned after greater than a yr in captivity, different younger women from Benue have died overseas.

During this investigation, PREMIUM TIMES obtained images, movies, demise notices and testimonies documenting the deaths of trafficked ladies from the state in Libya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin Republic and different locations throughout West and North Africa.

Several households stated they by no means noticed their daughters alive once more. Some couldn’t afford to deliver their stays house.

One of those that died was Dorcas Sewuese.

A member of the family, who requested not to be recognized, instructed PREMIUM TIMES that the household needed to deliver her physique house for burial, however couldn’t afford the associated fee.

Mr Ibrahim of NAPTIP’s Makurdi workplace confirmed that the company dealt with her case. He stated Miss Sewuese grew to become critically sick in Benghazi, Libya. NAPTIP had organized to return her to Nigeria, he stated, however she died earlier than she might board the flight. The company arrested individuals linked to her trafficking, and the case is now earlier than the Federal High Court.

For human rights activist Yaaya Sughnen, who has spent about three years documenting trafficking circumstances in Benue and serving to households hint victims, Miss Sewue’s demise is a part of a wider sample.

Twenty-three deaths

Mr Sughnen instructed PREMIUM TIMES that a minimum of 23 younger women from Benue died in trafficking-related circumstances throughout African nations between March and June.

Families continuously contact him after shedding communication with daughters who travelled in the hunt for work, he stated.

Mr Sughnen stated he receives about 20 trafficking-related studies weekly. He has documented circumstances and labored with safety businesses, together with the Benue State Police Gender Unit, for a number of years, tracing victims and suspects.

He stated the trafficking networks sometimes recruit younger women and ladies with guarantees of jobs in Nigeria and overseas. Recruiters function by way of chains of brokers, he stated, with people paid between ₦200,000 and ₦1 million to transfer victims from one location to one other earlier than they’re transported throughout borders.

On the youngsters trafficked, Mr Sughnen stated recruiters exploit their mother and father’ vulnerability.

He stated weak enforcement alongside some trafficking routes, together with border crossings, additionally allows traffickers to transfer victims with restricted scrutiny.

NAPTIP’s Mr Ibrahim stated the demise of some victims strengthened the necessity to establish and cease trafficking earlier than victims go away their communities.

He stated the company has expanded sensitisation campaigns in faculties, church buildings, motor parks, IDP camps and different susceptible communities, warning residents about misleading recruitment schemes and inspiring them to report suspicious approaches.

Government was unaware

Janet Daagba, director of Child Development in Benue State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, stated the ministry grew to become conscious of the alleged “Back-to-School” operation after regulation enforcement started investigating it.

“We were not aware,” she stated. “It was only later that the Ministry of Justice contacted us in connection with the investigation. They are the ones handling the matter.”

The officers stated the ministry had since strengthened community-based youngster safety buildings in IDP camps and host communities.

Social employees have been deployed in affected communities, whereas UNICEF and different companions have supported consciousness campaigns warning households towards handing kids to strangers posing as support employees or training suppliers, she added.

She additionally cited livelihood programmes for displaced women, together with agricultural assist, meals processing and vocational interventions, as a part of efforts to cut back the financial vulnerability that traffickers exploit.

Mrs Daagba stated the ministry works with conventional rulers, faith-based organisations, civil society teams, the National Orientation Agency, UNICEF and UNFPA on youngster safety and consciousness programmes.

For households nonetheless ready for lacking kids, Mrs Daagba stated the ministry supplies psychosocial assist within the camps whereas investigations and rescue efforts proceed.

“We are giving them hope,” she stated. “Our staff are in the camps providing social support, and we are working with other government agencies to ensure these kinds of incidents do not happen again.”

The official stated the Ministry of Justice was main the federal government’s authorized response, whereas the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare was supporting affected households and strengthening youngster safety measures.

Questions left unanswered

PREMIUM TIMES was unable to attain the Benue State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice and Public Order, Ornguga Yangien, by phone.

The newspaper subsequently contacted him by way of WhatsApp, looking for his response to the findings, together with the standing of the prosecution, institutional or regulatory gaps recognized by the ministry, efforts to recuperate and reunite lacking kids with their households, measures to forestall comparable circumstances and longer-term reforms to handle the hyperlink between battle, displacement and youngster trafficking.

Mr Yangien learn the message, in accordance to a subsequent WhatsApp verification, however didn’t reply earlier than publication.

Police response sought

PREMIUM TIMES additionally sought the Benue State Police Command’s response to the trafficking patterns uncovered through the investigation.

The police spokesperson, Peter Aondongu, stated he wanted to seek the advice of the Gender Desk Officer and transient the Commissioner of Police earlier than responding.

A subsequent follow-up with the Gender Desk Officer indicated that the required approval had not been obtained.

Repeated makes an attempt to attain Mr Aondongu afterwards had been unsuccessful, as his phone line grew to become unreachable earlier than publication.

Still ready

The scale of the trafficking uncovered in Benue displays a wider nationwide disaster.

At the twenty eighth National Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum and Summit on Human Trafficking held in Abuja on 30 July 2025, NAPTIP and its companions described trafficking as organised crime and cited the dimensions of the worldwide commerce, estimated at greater than $245 billion yearly.

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The company reported that it had rescued 25,642 victims, arrested 11,406 suspects and secured 750 convictions.

The 323 contributors on the summit, drawn from authorities, regulation enforcement, civil society, diplomatic missions and improvement organisations, referred to as for stronger political management, functioning state job forces, higher safety and reintegration of survivors, stronger prosecutions and nearer cooperation throughout businesses and borders.

Nearly a yr later, NAPTIP and its companions moved to strengthen that framework.

On 6 July, the company introduced the validation of Nigeria’s National Strategy to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Violence Against Persons (TIPVAP 2025–2027), developed with assist from ECOWAS, the European Union, Denmark and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development.

The technique is constructed round 5 pillars: coverage improvement, prevention, safety, prosecution and partnerships.

But the necessity for such measures is already starkly evident in Benue. By July 2025, NAPTIP had recognized Benue because the nation’s main supply of trafficking circumstances.

Speaking in Makurdi, NAPTIP Director-General Binta Bello, represented by the company’s Director of Intelligence, Josiah Emeriole, stated Benue had overtaken Edo when it comes to the variety of rescued victims and arrested suspects.

She linked the rise to extended insecurity, which has displaced households, killed mother and father and left kids susceptible to exploitation.

For the moms of trafficked kids, the guarantees made by authorities businesses and the resolutions adopted at nationwide boards will stay distant till the youngsters are returned house.

This reporting was accomplished with the assist of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).