By GERALD ADEWOLE
The term Baby Factories, also known as Baby Farms or Baby Harvesting, is a relatively new form of human trafficking in Nigeria. The factories are secret places where young ladies are lured, encouraged or forced to get pregnant and to deliver their babies for sale with or without their consent. Baby Factories are posing a great threat to our national security and the international image of our nation. While some of these ladies, especially teenage girls, voluntarily move into these centres to deliver “unwanted” babies for money, others are abducted or kidnapped and forcefully made to get pregnant. When they deliver these babies, they are taken away from them and sold to people on the waiting list of the purveyors.
From 2006 when the United Nations’ Report on Nigeria first alerted the world to the presence of Baby Factories in the country, the business has continued to grow, especially in the Southern part of the country. According to the United Nations, at least 10 children are illegally sold every day in Nigeria. The UNESCO Report of 2011 states that human trafficking is the third most common crime in Nigeria, after financial fraud and drug trafficking. Like most other organized crimes, Baby Factories operate as a powerful chain involving prominent people, with very strong connections in high places that give backing to this illegal trade.
There are several reasons Baby Factories thrive in Nigeria. First, they operate under the guise of orphanage homes, prayer homes, social welfare homes, maternity homes and clinics, thereby luring unsuspecting pregnant young ladies with different kinds of baits. Secondly, pregnant teenagers find these homes as safe havens for secretly dropping their “unwanted” babies without public knowledge, and continue with their normal life. The extremely poor and vulnerable ladies see these homes as a veritable opportunity for redressing their economic misfortune by selling their babies for money. To the desperate childless couples, Baby Factories offer a window of opportunity for addressing the reproach the society attaches to childlessness. It is therefore clear that the fear of stigmatization, poverty, ignorance and societal pressure are the key drivers of Baby Factories in Nigeria.
It is instructive to stress that no matter the motivation, the operation of Baby Factories is immoral, unspiritual, criminal, primitive, debasing, despicable, dehumanizing and at variance with godly principles, social norms and natural Justice. This is why all Nigerians of good conscience must join forces with government in waging a concerted war against the heinous crime.
To eradicate the menace of Baby factories, it must be understood that they operate as a highly coordinated chain. Therefore, the demand, marketing and supply channels must be identified and specifically dealt with, using a variety of strategies and approaches.
There is, therefore, the compelling need to immediately embark on aggressive public education programmes to raise national awareness on the activities of Baby Factory Operators. Sustained community dialogue sessions should be held to sensitize the citizens on the evils of Baby Factories and the strategies they use to lure innocent and unsuspecting young ladies. The girl child needs to be constantly counseled on the implication of teenage pregnancies and the shame associated with the sale of babies.
There should be strategic engagement with the family to strengthen family ties, build trust and confidence and enhance communications between parents and their daughters. This will go a long way in enhancing the relationship between parents and their daughters and place the parents in a position to effectively monitor the affairs of their daughters and guide them more appropriately. It will also reduce the tension and frustration which often make the adolescent girls get out of the home in search of self-expression in the streets.
Similarly, parents should be sensitized on the critical importance of good upbringing of the child in the fear of God. The child who has the fear of God is unlikely to indulge in acts that would predispose her to unwanted pregnancies and by extension Baby Factories. Parents should also be aware that their daughters who become victims of unwanted pregnancies are not to be stigmatized or thrown into the streets as outcasts. They are to be corrected with love, empathy and given psycho-social assistance necessary to overcome the emotional stress that comes with it.
To enlist the support and cooperation of critical stakeholders in this campaign, advocacy visits should be made to Faith-Based organizations, the media, traditional rulers and opinion moulders. Religious Leaders should be encouraged to constantly preach against Baby Factories as a sinful practice. The Media should be engaged to raise national consciousness on the evils of Baby Factories and expose their activities through investigative Journalism and other public service campaigns.
In the same vein, traditional rulers and opinion moulders should be encouraged and mobilized to take full ownership of this campaign. Baby Factories exist in communities and it is unarguable that some members of these communities know where they exist and the people involved.
For this campaign to have the desired effect and grassroots reach, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) should be empowered to deploy its various platforms in all the states and 774 Local Government Areas of the Federation in mounting sustained sensitization programmes against the menace. As an emerging trend of human trafficking with a notorious dimension, a well-established social re-engineering and public education organ like the National Orientation Agency is needed to combat this phenomenon, using comprehensive network, strong public enlightenment platforms and robust civil intelligence gathering mechanism.
All relevant laws relating to child trafficking should be vigorously enforced and perpetrators made to face the full wrath of the law. In this regard, all the Law Enforcement Agencies should work in close synergy with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) in policing the society through effective intelligence gathering.
All maternity and orphanage homes should be duly registered to ensure that no one operates without licence. Pregnant women should be closely monitored to the point of delivery and discharge from maternity homes. The Child Rights Act should be domesticated by all the state of the federation while the Child Adoption Laws should be relaxed and made more flexible and friendly to enable couples who genuinely want to adopt children do so without much rigour and financial pain. The Baby Factory Phenomenon is a serious threat to national security that must not treated with kids gloves.
*Adewole is the Director of Public Education and Mass Mobilization at National Orientation Agency (NOA)