By Alao Adamadamosi Sunday.
In the past six months alone, Kogi State has witnessed a disturbing surge in human trafficking cases that should shake every conscience and compel every institution to act. From the interception of 21 underaged children in Yagba East Local Government Area in December 2025, to the recent dismantling of a family-run syndicate in Lokoja that trafficked a 21-year-old woman to Côte d’Ivoire for sexual exploitation, the evidence is clear: human trafficking is no longer a distant menace. It is here, in our communities, preying on our children and our youth.
These are not isolated incidents. In March 2025, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) arrested a female truck driver and six others for running an interstate child trafficking syndicate that stole children as young as one year old and sold them for N600,000 each. The suspect, a driver for a popular cement company in Lokoja, used her branded truck to move stolen children across state lines, evading security checks with chilling ease. This is not just crime — it is organised, professionalised evil.
What makes these developments particularly alarming is the diversity of the trafficking patterns emerging in Kogi. In Yagba East, the 21 rescued children — aged between 6 and 17 — were allegedly being moved from different northern states under the guise of establishing an informal “Islamic school”. Security agencies suspect the real intention was covert recruitment for banditry training. In Lokoja, a family of four — a mother, her two daughters, and a son-in-law — lured vulnerable young women with promises of hairdressing jobs abroad, only to force them into prostitution in Côte d’Ivoire. The victim, Miss Patience Adamu, a 21-year-old who had lost her father and was desperate to support her struggling family, accepted the offer — and paid with her freedom and dignity.
The common thread running through these cases is exploitation of vulnerability. Traffickers prey on poverty, illiteracy, and desperation. They target young women from poor backgrounds, children from dysfunctional families, and anyone whose circumstances make them easy prey. The Executive Director of the Challenge Parenthood Initiative, Eunice Abimbola Agbogun, rightly described human trafficking as “a growing threat in Kogi State, driven largely by poverty, illiteracy, and the state’s strategic location”. Kogi’s position as a confluence state makes it a transit hub, connecting the north to the south and providing traffickers with multiple escape routes.
The response so far has been commendable but insufficient. Security agencies have shown courage and competence. The NSCDC, acting on credible intelligence from community hunters, intercepted the 21 children in Yagba East. The Kogi State Police Command, following a complaint from the Challenge Parenthood Initiative, arrested the family-run syndicate and repatriated the victim from Côte d’Ivoire. Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo has directed the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development to take custody of rescued victims and provide psychosocial support. The Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Human Trafficking has also visited NAPTIP headquarters to strengthen collaboration.
However, arrests and rescues alone will not end this scourge. We need a comprehensive, multi-layered strategy. First, we must address the root causes — poverty and lack of opportunity. Traffickers thrive where hope is scarce. Investment in education, skills acquisition, and economic empowerment for young people, especially young women, is not social welfare; it is national security.
Second, we must strengthen prosecution. The Kogi State Government has promised that all individuals found culpable will be prosecuted in line with Kogi State’s Child Trafficking and Child Rights Protection Laws. But we must go further. We need to ensure that convictions are swift, sentences are severe, and the judicial system sends an unmistakable message: trafficking in Kogi State carries a price too high to pay. The Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition), Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015, prescribes a minimum penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a minimum fine of one million naira. These penalties must be applied without compromise.
Third, we must deepen collaboration between state and federal agencies. NAPTIP currently lacks a full-fledged presence in Kogi State. This must change. The Kogi State Government’s proactive engagement with NAPTIP is welcome, but we need more than visits — we need a permanent, well-resourced NAPTIP command in Lokoja, working side by side with state security agencies, civil society organisations, and community leaders. To accelerate this process, the Kogi State Government can take a practical, no-cost step: provide a fully furnished office space for NAPTIP in Lokoja. This simple but critical gesture would remove the administrative bottleneck of securing accommodation and enable the agency to deploy its manpower immediately. With an office in place, NAPTIP can station investigators, counsellors, and legal officers who can respond swiftly to incidents, build robust cases, and coordinate seamlessly with state agencies. This is a low-hanging, high-impact intervention that the government can implement within weeks, not months. We call on Governor Ododo to issue that directive without delay — because every day we wait for bureaucracy, traffickers are moving more victims through our borders.
Fourth, we must mobilise communities. In the Yagba East case, it was community hunters who provided the intelligence that led to the rescue. This is a powerful reminder that ordinary citizens are our first line of defence. We must encourage community vigilance, establish reporting mechanisms, and protect whistleblowers. Every parent, every teacher, every religious leader must be trained to recognise the signs of trafficking and know how to report it.
Finally, we must demand accountability from all stakeholders — government, security agencies, traditional institutions, and civil society. The fight against human trafficking cannot be left to one agency or one administration. It requires sustained political will, adequate funding, and a collective refusal to look away.
The children rescued in Yagba East are now in the custody of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, pending profiling and eventual reintegration with their families. Patience Adamu has been reunited with her mother. But how many others remain trapped? How many more children are being moved across our borders under the cover of darkness? How many young women are being forced into prostitution in foreign lands, their cries unheard?
Kogi State has long been known as the Confluence State — a place where rivers meet. But today, it risks becoming known as a confluence of traffickers, a crossroads where human lives are bought and sold. This is not the legacy we want. This is not the future we deserve.
We must act now. Not tomorrow. Not when the next truck is intercepted or the next victim is rescued. Now. Every day we delay, another child is stolen, another young woman is deceived, another family is shattered.
Human trafficking is a crime against humanity. It is a crime against our children, our communities, and our future. In Kogi State, this new crime must not be allowed to thrive. The government must act. Security agencies must act. Communities must act. We must all act — together, decisively, and without mercy for those who trade in human lives.
The time to stop Kogi’s dark trade is now.
– Alao Adamadamosi Sunday arpa
Lokoja.
