“Edo: The Unveiled Hub of Sexual Exploitation – Insights from NAPTIP”
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, states that Edo State continues to be a focal point for sexual exploitation.
The agency further indicated that labor trafficking and organ extraction have persisted within the nation.
NAIJATAB reports that Mr. Sam Offiah, Zonal Commander of NAPTIP in Benin, expressed this on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, during a workshop for Parent-Teacher Association, PTA, officials from 40 educational institutions in Edo State.
Offiah, represented by Mrs. Joy Ojiewa, Head of NAPTIP’s Public Enlightenment Unit, emphasized that traffickers have grown more advanced, moving from street-level recruitment to calculated tactics that exploit trust within families.
He cautioned that traffickers have now employed fraudulent scholarships, deceptive job offers, sextortion, online recruiting, and baby production facilities to entice unsuspecting victims.
According to him, trafficking preys on poverty, lack of knowledge, and the pursuit of improved prospects, adding that criminals are now focusing on parents directly, utilizing deceit to gain access to their children.
He suggested that prevention, fueled by awareness, remains the most efficient reaction, alongside protection, prosecution, partnership, and law enforcement.
In her address, Ms. Daniella Ige, Junior Project Officer for School Anti-Human Trafficking Education and Advocacy, STEAP, at the International Centre for Migration Policy Development, ICMPD, in Edo, mentioned that parents have been mobilized throughout the state to carry the battle against human trafficking into their homes and communities.
Ige cautioned that traffickers are now directly targeting families with deceptive schemes.
She stated that the involvement, under the School Anti-Human Trafficking Education and Advocacy, STEAP, initiative, positioned parents as the primary line of defense against this crime.
She added that the STEAP initiative is executed by ICMPD in partnership with NAPTIP, the Girls Power Initiative, and the Edo State Ministry of Education.
The Junior Project Officer for STEAP clarified that the project, funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, aims to dismantle trafficking networks through grassroots mobilization and ongoing community education.
“The involvement marked a strategic enhancement of the anti-trafficking campaign to incorporate parents, who are frequently the initial contact point for traffickers.
“We cannot achieve success without parents. When they comprehend the strategies traffickers employ, they can prevent exploitation before it occurs.
“The project anticipated PTA officials to promote sustained advocacy within their circles, transforming awareness into community-wide action,” she noted.
Ige added that the initiative was already showing effects.
