The spreading phenomenon of illicit baby factories

Among those in the custody of the anti–trafficking department of the  Ondo State command of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) were five pregnant women, five nursing mothers, five newborns and eight men whose assigned task was to impregnate the girls for a fee. A retired police officer and a Cameroon national recruited to facilitate the […]

Among those in the custody of the anti–trafficking department of the  Ondo State command of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) were five pregnant women, five nursing mothers, five newborns and eight men whose assigned task was to impregnate the girls for a fee. A retired police officer and a Cameroon national recruited to facilitate the illegal business were among those in custody and paraded at the NIS offices in Akure. According to reports, young girls, between the ages of 19 and 25, were recruited into the home while young men, sworn to oaths of secrecy, worked to make them pregnant. After delivery, the girls are paid off while their babies are taken from them and sold to willing buyers.
Male children go for N1.3m each, while a female could fetch N1million. Twins go for as much as N2.5million a pair.
 Items found in the factory during the raid were eight luxury cars, foodstuff and all manner of baby stuff. The alleged proprietor of the factory, one Mrs Happiness Ogundeji, was picked by security officers after several months of intelligence gathering and surveillance.  Apparently, she had relocated to Ondo State after a similar factory she ran Imo State was raided and sealed up.  
That such obviously criminal transaction of running baby factories, which until now has been known to be confined to a particular region of the country, is fast spreading to other parts, is a deeply troubling development. Worse is that the activity thrives due to patronage by unscrupulous and wealthy or powerful individuals who would rather buy babies from dubious sources without proper documentation than patronize licensed orphanages for possible adoption.
 The case of the young girls and men who are induced with money to participate in the activity presents a pathetic and disturbing picture of the exploitation of the vulnerable in the society.  Although they should be categorised as offenders, the first recourse for remediation is counselling to wean them off their involvement.  The fact is that in some cases, more than babies’ sale is involved; sometimes the practice involves the harvest of body parts for sale in foreign countries, part of a worldwide illegal activity that has attracted the attention of the United Nations. There is also the likelihood that babies may end up being mutilated and dismembered for ritual purposes.
 The people involved in sustaining the factory also face the risk of contracting many forms of sexually transmitted diseases, apart from the physical abuses and psychological trauma they go through.  .
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) should swing into action to first contain the obnoxious practice, and then stop it from being a feature in any community in the country. Hand-in-hand with that would be vigorous and sustained enlightenment campaigns focusing on the consequences of trading in humans, especially babies, and human parts. Parents who encourage their wards to operate in baby factories, as some reports suggest they do, should be visited with criminal liability for being accessories to the crime and punished appropriately. Those caught running these illegal outfits should be punished to serve as deterrent to others.  Indeed, if the authorities had meted out sufficient deterrent punishment when the Imo State episode came to light, the Ondo case would perhaps not have occurred. The authorities must act swiftly and determinedly in accordance with the law to put an end to the practice before it overwhelms the capacity of law enforcement to handle and deal with.