PROSPER OKOYE
School abductions across Nigeria are deepening children’s vulnerability to human trafficking, the Network Against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Labour, NACTAL, has warned. The group said prolonged insecurity-driven school closures are expanding the number of minors exposed to criminal recruitment.
The warning was issued on Wednesday in Keffi, Nasarawa State, during a three-day training for civil society organisations on monitoring, evaluation and reporting of human trafficking cases using nationally approved tools.
The programme is supported under the Support to Migration Governance in Nigeria Project, Component III, funded by the European Union and implemented by the Foundation for Investigative and Actionable Policy, FIAP, organisers said.
NACTAL National President, Abdulganiyu Abubakar, said kidnappings targeting schools were not only disrupting education but also creating conditions that traffickers exploit to lure out-of-school children with false promises.
“Some of these abductions affect enrolment, retention and completion of education by children and young people. The abductions also lead to the closure of schools,” he said, according to a statement from the event.
Abubakar explained that when schools are closed and children remain at home, they become vulnerable and prone to trafficking by individuals who do not mean well for society.
He warned that traffickers often operate within communities and actively target children left without the protection of schools and structured supervision.
“If children remain at home, they will certainly be recruited and trafficked. People will come and give them false hopes and present juicy offers to them, and they will fall for it,” the NACTAL president said.
He said advocacy efforts have continued since the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls and subsequent incidents in states including Borno, with civil society groups repeatedly calling for stronger preventive action.
According to him, interventions have included press briefings, community engagements and policy advocacy across several states. In Sokoto State, NACTAL brought together stakeholders to deliberate and make concrete calls to government.
Abubakar added that in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, the organisation held a national press conference to draw the attention of government to the issue and submitted position papers with recommendations for proactive measures.
He urged government to prioritise prevention through stronger protection of schools, warning that human trafficking continues to thrive despite increased awareness and interventions by stakeholders.
Abubakar also raised concerns over poor documentation of trafficking cases, saying gaps in reporting weaken national response efforts and obscure the true scale of the crime in Nigeria.
NACTAL National Secretary, Osita Osemene, said weak technical capacity among some member organisations was contributing to underreporting of trafficking cases and limiting the effectiveness of interventions.
FIAP Deputy Team Lead, Javier Francesco Leon, said effective anti-trafficking responses depend on accurate documentation, adding that insecurity, poverty, displacement and irregular migration continue to create opportunities for traffickers across Nigeria.