What You Need to Know:
Karon Majiji Village’s Priesthood Orphanage in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, has been shut down by the Federal Capital Territory Administration after 23 children, believed to have been trafficked from Plateau State were located at the premises.
The children, between the ages of one and fourteen, some of whom had been at the uncertified orphanage since 2019, have been handed over to the Plateau Commissioner for Women Affairs to be reunited with their families.
According to official reports, the premises were dirty and not suitable to house children. Nine girls were sleeping in an unkempt room with just two mattresses, while the sleeping area for the boys was similarly unsuitable.
The rescue has prompted the Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territories to launch a profiling and recertification audit of the orphanages operating in Abuja to avoid another trafficking case arising.
According to the Women Consortium of Nigeria, “Internal trafficking of children takes the form of recruitment and transportation of children from the rural areas to the urban and city centers for different forms of labor under exploitative conditions.” Although it is unclear if the children in this case were used for labor and/or prostitution.