On Wednesday, there was huge celebration in Bauchi State as seven children, who were rescued from child traffickers, were joyfully reunited with their families.
The children, sold for N2.8 million were rescued after the Nigerian police busted a child trafficking syndicate in Kano State, Northwest Nigeria.
SaharaReporters on December 30, 2023, reported that the Nigerian police arrested members of a child-trafficking gang who steal and sell children taken from the North in the Southern part of the country.
Members of the syndicate were paraded on Friday by the Kano State Commissioner of Police, Mohammed Gumel.
Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed took delivery of the kids on Wednesday from the Commissioner of Police, Auwal Mohammed and handed them over to their parents.
“If this barbaric act is not nipped in the bud, it is capable of bringing suspicion and mistrust between the different people in Nigeria. It is unacceptable for people to be stolen and sold, and their linguistics and their faith changed, just because of the money.
"I hope these are the only victims. I hope many others have not been mutilated or killed,” the governor said.
He, however, warned parents against abandoning their responsibility of catering for their children.
The governor, who commended security agencies, pledged to provide necessary tools for them to do their job, as well as those addressing child rights issues.
It was however observed that some of the rescued kids no longer spoke or understood their mother tongue.