The Director-General of the agency, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, disclosed this on Monday at NAPTIP’s headquarters in Abuja while reviewing the agency’s performance in 2025 and unveiling its operational strategy for 2026.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says it secured the conviction of no fewer than 93 human traffickers in 2025, rescued over 120 trafficked children, and intercepted more than 2,500 potential victims across Nigeria and beyond.
The Director-General of the agency, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, disclosed this on Monday at NAPTIP’s headquarters in Abuja while reviewing the agency’s performance in 2025 and unveiling its operational strategy for 2026.
Bello said the agency intensified surveillance, intelligence gathering, prosecutions and stakeholder partnerships last year, making 2025 “a very unpleasant year” for human traffickers operating in the country.
According to her, the agency’s aggressive posture followed a directive to all NAPTIP commands nationwide to scale up monitoring and vigilance, a move that reportedly doubled the agency’s activities and led to a spike in arrests, prosecutions and convictions.
“The year 2025 was unpleasant for human traffickers in the Country. We outsmarted the traffickers and their antics, and this resulted in the impressive number of convictions we recorded. The Agency recorded 93 convictions. This is remarkable, bearing in mind what it takes to prosecute and convict one trafficker,” she said.
She revealed that the agency went after several high-profile traffickers, including operators of some orphanages and care homes allegedly involved in child trafficking and other forms of exploitation.
“In 2025, NAPTIP went after a number of the so-called high-profile trafficker, while scores of them were smoked out of their hiding, arrested, prosecuted, and convicted, others are still under close watch,” she said.
“Among the high-profile traffickers were some popular operators of orphanages and care homes across the country whose alleged nefarious activities were busted, and over 120 suspected trafficked children were rescued.
“In the same vein, NAPTIP, in collaboration with international partners and stakeholders, rescued over 370 Nigerian victims of human trafficking from some countries such as Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and others.”
She declared that the agency will “increase synergy with actors within the 3 levels of government, as well as other non-state actors, including the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON), to enhance grassroots surveillance and detection of human trafficking”.
She said, “While we sincerely appreciate the support of all in the year 2025, we assure that NAPTIP shall continue to go after the human traffickers and make 2026 unbearable for them to operate in Nigeria through awareness and enlightenment programmes across Nigeria, with special attention on the unreached locations and villages to reduce their vulnerability and build their resistance to the antics of the traffickers and prosecution.
“Just a few days into the year 2026, we have already secured the conviction of 3 human traffickers, and more will end up in jail unless they desist from their unlawful acts and criminality.”