The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on Friday handed over the remaining nine of the 19 children rescued from kidnappers to their families in Kebbi State.
The Head of NAPTIP in the state, Misbahu Kaura, handed over the children to their parents at the Government House in Birnin Kebbi.
The Kebbi State Governor, Nasir Idris, witnessed the event.
Kaura told the governor that the agency rescued the 19 children from Calabar and other parts of the Niger Delta region.
He added that NAPTIP officials caught and detained the alleged abductors.
He said: “Your Excellency, the case is in court, the nine children before you are those who testified in court.
“NAPTIP is here to seek your permission to reunite them with their parents.
“Both the District Head of the area where they hailed from and their parents are present, we solicit your permission to hand them over to their parents.
“NAPTIP investigation shows that the human traffickers have agents in Zuru, deceiving parents to release their children for schooling purposes in Gusau, Zamfara.
“Unfortunately, from Gusau, the children were trafficked to Calabar, sold into slavery for between N280,000 and above, while the buyers renamed them to avoid detection.
“We succeeded in arresting the traffickers and buyers, and consequently prosecuting them before the court of law.”
He thanked the governor for donating an operational vehicle to the agency and appealed for the inclusion of NAPTIP in the state government’s monthly allowance for security agencies.
In his remark, Governor Idris urged the agency to sustain its enlightenment programme against child and human trafficking.
He vowed that the government would prosecute anyone involved in such nefarious acts of child trafficking up to the Supreme Court.
“I am also warning parents seriously not to be accomplices in child trafficking. Any parent found to surrender their children for monetary benefits will face prosecution,” the governor stated.