Nigeria: Investigation - How Criminals Exploited Benue's Conflicts to Traffic Children, Women

Conflict, displacement and economic hardship in Benue State have created conditions that traffickers exploit to traffic children and women.

From where she sat under a mango tree beside two huts and an old three-bedroom bungalow, Hembadoon Tervershima watched a motorcycle turn onto the narrow footpath that ended in the compound.

Since the disappearance of her daughter in May 2024, the 42-year-old widow has lived with her mother. Two years later, the sight or sound of a vehicle approaching the compound still takes her mind back to her daughter.

"I still wait for her every day," she said quietly. "Sometimes I thought I heard her voice."

Joy Tervershima was 15 when she left for school one morning in Zaki Biam, headquarters of Ukum Local Government Area in Benue State. That was the last time a family member saw her. Her disappearance came years after armed attackers displaced her family and thousands of other residents from their ancestral home in Guma Local Government Area. The family settled in Zaki Biam with their two daughters, hoping to rebuild their lives away from the conflict. That hope was short-lived.

Months passed before the family heard from police investigators that Joy had been trafficked through Lagos to Libya. Then, one day, nearly a year after she vanished, she called from an international code.

According to Mrs Tervershima, Joy said a man she knew in Zaki Biam had lured her and several other girls with a promise of jobs abroad.

"When they got to Libya, they realised they had been taken there for prostitution," her mother said.

Joy told her family that many of the girls she travelled with from Benue died during the journey. She has spoken to her mother only twice since that call. The number has been unreachable.

"I don't know if she is alive or dead," her mother said.

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

The promise

Hundreds of kilometres away in another rural part of Benue, another trafficking network was targeting vulnerable teenagers with the same promises of jobs.

Among those drawn in were two 17-year-olds, Chivirter and Kashimana, from Logo Local Government Area. The two friends had grown up in rural communities where incessant violent attacks had disrupted farming and other means of livelihood.

According to the girls, a relative of one of them had offered them jobs in Benin City, Edo State. Neither teenager told her parents before leaving with the man.

At the time, Chivirter's mother, Nancy, was in Taraba State. "I was shocked," she said. "Nobody knew where she had gone."

The journey

The girls said their journey to Benin City lasted nearly two days, during which they passed several security checkpoints.

"The security people only asked for money," Kashimana said. "Nobody asked us where we were going."

In Benin City, the girls were handed over to different women.

Kashimana's "Madam" was one Mama Osas in the Akiwa area of the Edo State capital.

Chivirter had access to a mobile phone, which she used to organise her escape. Within a week, she fled back to Benue.

"I called my parents and told them I had been trafficked," she said. "I told them I wanted to return home."

Kashimana remained in Benin City for more than a year and told her parents that she had married.

"I knew they were worried," she said. "I wanted them to move on."

Life after trafficking

Kashimana said she was not forced into prostitution. "I heard about it because other girls were doing it," she said.

She also alleged that Atsuku pressured her to invite other girls from Benue, offering between ₦90,000 and ₦120,000 for each person she brought into the network.

Both girls have since returned to Benue, but their families said the experience continues to affect them. Chivirter's father said she became withdrawn after returning home.

"She is no longer the same person," he said. "The experience changed her."

Kashimana's relatives described a similar change. Before leaving Benue, the two friends were active in church activities, including attending Sunday school. However, since their return, Kashimana has rarely participated.

"We feel ashamed," Chivirter said. "We are always scared."

The lost children

PREMIUM TIMES found that traffickers targeted a different type of victims in the Guma Local Government Area of Benue State. Instead of individual teenagers, they target conflict-displaced families, offering education, food, and accommodation for their children.

Posing as aid workers, they tell parents their children would attend school and return home during Christmas and Easter holidays.

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

When the supposed aid workers initially approached her in June 2024, she rejected their offer.

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

She said relatives eventually persuaded her that the programme could secure a better future for the children.

Like dozens of other parents, Mrs Emmanuel believed she was sending her children to school.

PREMIUM TIMES interviewed other parents of trafficked children in the area, including Monica Ayangealumun, mother of Blessing Oliver, 7, and Doose Oliver, 4; and 35-year-old Adiza Yusuf, mother of Terna Yusuf, 6, and Vendaga Yusuf, 8.

The newspaper's findings indicate that more than 300 children were taken from communities in Guma Local Government Area in 2024 through the scheme.

Even when Mrs Emmanuel's children did not return home for Christmas in December 2024, she continued to believe they were safe. However, when they didn't for Easter 2025, she realised something was wrong.

Then, in June 2025, Yelewata came under a deadly attack in which more than 100 people were killed. Interviews conducted by PREMIUM TIMES indicated that some parents whose children had disappeared in the trafficking scheme were among those killed. Survivors fled again, scattering families who were already searching for their missing children.

Mrs Emmanuel moved into the International Market Internally Displaced Persons camp in Makurdi, where NAPTIP later reunited her with one of the children, Rejoice. Michael remains missing.

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 children's rights and coordinate child protection activities.

Among its initiatives is a "Back-to-School" programme intended to help vulnerable and out-of-school children access education through community engagement and educational support.

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

According to NAPTIP, more than 300 children, aged between one and 13 years, were taken from the three communities. Some parents signed consent forms, while others gave verbal approval after being told their children would return home after three years.

The agency identified Anderson Archibong, executive secretary of NACCRAN, as the alleged mastermind of the operation.

Dillo Ibrahim, head of Intelligence and International Cooperation at NAPTIP's Makurdi Zonal Command, said the agency's investigation began on 1 May 2025 after a man petitioned NAPTIP over a case involving his four-year-old son. He alleged that his mother-in-law had handed over the child to an NGO without his consent and that he was told he could only see the child after three years.

The complaint led to arrests in Daudu and, according to NAPTIP, investigators uncovered a wider network involved in trafficking and illegal adoption.

Mr Ibrahim said the suspects targeted communities where farmer-herder violence had displaced residents. They presented the programme to traditional rulers and villagers as an avenue for providing vulnerable children with education and care.

NAPTIP also identified one Mercy Akema, who allegedly presented herself as an indigene of Guma, as a key figure in the operation.

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

According to the agency, children collected from Yelewata, Daudu and Agban were transported, often in Mr Archibong's personal vehicle, to orphanage homes in Abuja and Nasarawa before being distributed to other parts of the country.

NAPTIP said Mr Archibong carried documents identifying him as a child rights advocate.

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

The agency identified four orphanage homes 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 some of the children were sold to prospective adopters for between ₦1 million and ₦3 million each. One complainant told investigators that he paid ₦2.8 million as an adoption fee and an additional ₦100,000 consultancy fee.

"The striking issue is that the names of the children were changed," Mr Ibrahim said. "The buyers gave them new names."

NAPTIP said it has so far rescued 105 children linked to the operation. Of these, 101 have been reunited with their families, while four remain in the agency's custody as officials continue efforts to trace their relatives.

The rescued children were found across several states: 39 in the Federal Capital Territory, 12 in Abia, 11 in Lagos, eight in Nasarawa, seven in Aba, six each in Enugu, Anambra and Niger, five in Rivers and four in Imo. Mr Ibrahim said investigators had identified additional victims in Abia and planned further rescue operations, subject to logistical support.

"In the course of our investigation, we have not seen anyone who was taken for ritual purposes," Mr Ibrahim said. "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 connection with the Benue case, according to NAPTIP. The agency said he was granted bail at one point but was later rearrested after allegedly attempting to recruit more children in Nasarawa State.

Mr Akema has also been arraigned, while investigations into other members of the alleged syndicate continue.

"We are optimistic," Mr Ibrahim said. "Anybody involved in this syndicate is going to face the law."

An official of NAPTIP's Lafia Zonal Command, who requested anonymity because the matter is before the court, also confirmed to PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Archibong is facing a separate trafficking prosecution in Nasarawa State involving more than 200 children. The official said he was being held at the Lafia Custodial Centre.

PREMIUM TIMES' efforts to speak with Mr Archibong's lawyer failed.

The girls who never returned

While Chivirter escaped within weeks and Kashimana returned after more than a year in captivity, other young women from Benue have died abroad.

During this investigation, PREMIUM TIMES obtained photographs, videos, death notices and testimonies documenting the deaths of trafficked girls from the state in Libya, Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin Republic and other destinations across West and North Africa.

Several families said they never saw their daughters alive again. Some could not afford to bring their remains home.

One of those who died was Dorcas Sewuese.

A family member, who asked not to be identified, told PREMIUM TIMES that the family wanted to bring her body home for burial, but could not afford the cost.

Mr Ibrahim of NAPTIP's Makurdi office confirmed that the agency handled her case. He said Miss Sewuese became critically ill in Benghazi, Libya. NAPTIP had arranged to return her to Nigeria, he said, but she died before she could board the flight. The agency arrested people linked to her trafficking, and the case is now before the Federal High Court.

For human rights activist Yaaya Sughnen, who has spent about three years documenting trafficking cases in Benue and helping families trace victims, Miss Sewue's death is part of a wider pattern.

Twenty-three deaths

Mr Sughnen told PREMIUM TIMES that at least 23 young women from Benue died in trafficking-related circumstances across African countries between March and June.

Families frequently contact him after losing communication with daughters who travelled in search of work, he said.

Mr Sughnen said he receives about 20 trafficking-related reports weekly. He has documented cases and worked with security agencies, including the Benue State Police Gender Unit, for several years, tracing victims and suspects.

He said the trafficking networks typically recruit young women and girls with promises of jobs in Nigeria and abroad. Recruiters operate through chains of agents, he said, with individuals paid between ₦200,000 and ₦1 million to move victims from one location to another before they are transported across borders.

On the children trafficked, Mr Sughnen said recruiters exploit their parents' vulnerability.

He said weak enforcement along some trafficking routes, including border crossings, also enables traffickers to move victims with limited scrutiny.

NAPTIP's Mr Ibrahim said the death of some victims reinforced the need to identify and stop trafficking before victims leave their communities.

He said the agency has expanded sensitisation campaigns in schools, churches, motor parks, IDP camps and other vulnerable communities, warning residents about deceptive recruitment schemes and encouraging them to report suspicious approaches.

Government was unaware

Janet Daagba, director of Child Development in Benue State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, said the ministry became aware of the alleged "Back-to-School" operation after law enforcement began investigating it.

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

The officials said the ministry had since strengthened community-based child protection structures in IDP camps and host communities.

Social workers have been deployed in affected communities, while UNICEF and other partners have supported awareness campaigns warning families against handing children to strangers posing as aid workers or education providers, she added.

She also cited livelihood programmes for displaced women, including agricultural support, food processing and vocational interventions, as part of efforts to reduce the economic vulnerability that traffickers exploit.

Mrs Daagba said the ministry works with traditional rulers, faith-based organisations, civil society groups, the National Orientation Agency, UNICEF and UNFPA on child protection and awareness programmes.

For families still waiting for missing children, Mrs Daagba said the ministry provides psychosocial support in the camps while investigations and rescue efforts continue.

"We are giving them hope," she said. "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 said the Ministry of Justice was leading the government's legal response, while the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare was supporting affected families and strengthening child protection measures.

Questions left unanswered

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

The newspaper subsequently contacted him via WhatsApp, seeking his response to the findings, including the status of the prosecution, institutional or regulatory gaps identified by the ministry, efforts to recover and reunite missing children with their families, measures to prevent similar cases and longer-term reforms to address the link between conflict, displacement and child trafficking.

Mr Yangien read the message, according to a subsequent WhatsApp verification, but did not respond before publication.

Police response sought

PREMIUM TIMES also sought the Benue State Police Command's response to the trafficking patterns uncovered during the investigation.

The police spokesperson, Peter Aondongu, said he needed to consult the Gender Desk Officer and brief the Commissioner of Police before responding.

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

Repeated attempts to reach Mr Aondongu afterwards were unsuccessful, as his telephone line became unreachable before publication.

Still waiting

The scale of the trafficking uncovered in Benue reflects a wider national crisis.

At the 28th National Stakeholders' Consultative Forum and Summit on Human Trafficking held in Abuja on 30 July 2025, NAPTIP and its partners described trafficking as organised crime and cited the scale of the global trade, estimated at more than $245 billion annually.

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

The 323 participants at the summit, drawn from government, law enforcement, civil society, diplomatic missions and development organisations, called for stronger political leadership, functioning state task forces, better protection and reintegration of survivors, stronger prosecutions and closer cooperation across agencies and borders.

Nearly a year later, NAPTIP and its partners moved to strengthen that framework.

On 6 July, the agency announced the validation of Nigeria's National Strategy to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Violence Against Persons (TIPVAP 2025-2027), developed with support from ECOWAS, the European Union, Denmark and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development.

The strategy is built around five pillars: policy development, prevention, protection, prosecution and partnerships.

But the need for such measures is already starkly evident in Benue. By July 2025, NAPTIP had identified Benue as the country's leading source of trafficking cases.

Speaking in Makurdi, NAPTIP Director-General Binta Bello, represented by the agency's Director of Intelligence, Josiah Emeriole, said Benue had overtaken Edo in terms of the number of rescued victims and arrested suspects.

She linked the increase to prolonged insecurity, which has displaced families, killed parents and left children vulnerable to exploitation.

For the mothers of trafficked children, the promises made by government agencies and the resolutions adopted at national forums will remain distant until the children are returned home.

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

Read the original article on Premium Times.

Nigeria: Investigation - How Criminals Exploited Benue's Conflicts to Traffic Children, Women

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