by Tamara Alfred
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
LAGOS, Nigeria — On Saturday, May 28, in the southeast city of Aba, Nigerian police took into custody 32 young women and a doctor during a raid on The Cross Foundation, believed to be a so-called “baby factory.” The girls, aged between 15 and 17 years old and usually poor or desperate teenagers with unplanned pregnancies, were reportedly being kept locked up and forced to get pregnant. There are reports that some had come to the clinic believing it was an adoption agency. Upon selling their babies to the doctor, the newborns were then resold for illegal adoption or to be used for ritual witchcraft.
The girls would sell their babies to the head of the clinic, who would then resell the newborns for anywhere between 100,000 naira ($640) to one million naira ($6,400). According to the BBC, male babies were more prized and sold for a higher price. After the sale of the newborns, the girls were given approximately $170 by the clinic owner.
Buying or selling of babies is illegal in Nigeria and can carry a 14-year jail sentence. The proprietor of The Cross Foundation, Dr. Hyacinth Orikara, is currently being questioned and is likely to face charges of child abuse and human trafficking. Dr. Orikara is currently denying all charges, saying it was only a foundation to help teenagers with unwanted pregnancies. The young women will either be charged or handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons for further investigation.
Human trafficking is ranked the third most common crime in Nigeria behind economic fraud and drug trafficking. The United Nations estimates that at least 10 children are sold across the country each day. Some children are bought for use as labor in plantations, mines, or factories, while others are sold into prostitution. Others are used in witchcraft rituals believed to bring riches to families. Many are also sold in illegal adoptions.
“We have so many cases going on in court right now,” Ijeoma Okoronkwo, the regional head of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, told AFP. “There is a problem of illicit adoption and people not knowing the right way to adopt children.”
A few news agencies reported that some young children were also found at the clinic. It was not known if they were related to the girls.
For more information, please see:
Reuters – Nigeria police break suspected baby-trafficking ring – 2 June 2011
CNN – Nigerian police free 30 girls in alleged ‘baby industry’ – 2 June 2011
BBC News – Nigeria ‘baby farm’ girls rescued by Abia state police – 1 June 2011
Global Post – Nigeria: “baby factory” raided, 32 pregnant girls rescued – 2 June 2011
AFP – Nigerian ‘baby factory’ raided, 32 teenage girls freed – 1 June 2011
