April 19, (THEWILL) — The Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Lagos State Command, uncovered a baby factory in the Badagry area of Lagos. This is no news, some people would say. Baby factories have always existed. Once upon a time, there was a proliferation of baby factories across Nigeria, particularly in the rural parts where the unemployment rate is very high and poverty is extreme. So there is no big deal.
The sad thing is that this is not the first time that a security agency has busted an illegal facility, such as the Badagry baby factory. Although previous attempts often yielded positive results, they were obviously not sufficient to put an end to the existence of the factories. The resulting arrests and prosecution were not enough to deter operators of the facilities from going back to crime.
Baby factories are considered a contemporary form of human trafficking. Operators often lure vulnerable young women with false promises of jobs, then hold them captive and force them into pregnancy to sell the resulting children. In the latest case, it was gathered, the operators actually lured their victims to subscribe to an offer made via a social media platform.
Many women living in these facilities are serially raped by thugs employed by the operators for this purpose. The women are denied contact with the world outside the factory, they are closely monitored and have their phones confiscated to prevent escape.
Children born in these factories are sold on the black market for various purposes, including illegal adoption to desperate couples, forced labor, sex trafficking, even ritual killings. They are denied legal status and birth registration. The bond between mother and child is severed immediately after birth, often without the mother ever seeing or touching the infant.
In baby factories, operations are frequently conducted in unhygienic, unregistered environments without professional medical oversight. This leads to inadequate prenatal and postnatal care, posing life-threatening risks to both the mothers and the infants.
Operators of such facilities profit immensely, while victims receive a pittance, often as little as 10-15 per cent of the sale price or sometimes, in extreme cases, nothing at all. The practice preys on extreme poverty and the social stigma surrounding teenage pregnancy or infertility.
During the NSCDC raid, 18 pregnant women and 10 children were rescued from the Badagry facility. There may be more victims awaiting similar rescue missions by security agencies elsewhere. Doubtlessly, the operators and patrons of baby factories are committing a huge crime against humanity and we urge the federal and state governments to do something about it urgently.
