For the second time in a barely a week, the Nigerian police raided
a 'baby factory' in Enugu and rescued six pregnant teenagers from the coerced
selling of their newborns. This time, three suspects were arrested, unlike in
the previous case where the madam is still on the run. According to AFP.
Nigerian police on Wednesday (May 15th) said they had found six
pregnant teenage girls in a raid on a house and arrested three people suspected
of planning to sell their babies. It was the second so-called baby-factory uncovered in a
week in the west African nation.
"We acted on intelligence information and raided the
house in Enugu (city) where we met six girls, under 17 and all pregnant, and
freed them," police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu in southeastern Enugu state
told AFP. He said two men and a woman believed to be operating a
child trafficking ring were arrested during the raid on Monday and were
cooperating with police.
Amaraizu said the girls had been "lured into the
house with a promise of some money after" delivering a child.
"Investigation will unravel the details. We have to
know how they came about the pregnancy and where they came from," he said. Monday's raid came five days after police in nearby Imo State freed 17 pregnant girls and 11 small children from a home in the town of
Umuaka. The girls, aged between 14 and 17, told police that they
had been impregnated by a 23-year-old man who is currently in custody. The
owner of the building is on the run.
Nigerian police have uncovered a series of alleged baby
factories in recent years, notably in the southeastern part of the country, but
the intended buyers of the children have not been established. Human trafficking, including the selling of children, is
the third most common crime in Nigeria behind fraud and drug trafficking, the
United Nations cultural organisation (UNESCO) has said.
In May of 2011 in southeastern Abia state, police freed 32 pregnant girls who said they had been offered to sell their babies for between
25,000 and 30,000 naira ($191), depending on the sex of the baby.
Another 17 pregnant girls were discovered in southern
Anambra state in October 2011 under similar circumstances.
There is
a demand for these babies, and in most cases, that demand is 'kind of' genuine.
I've been thinking about this issue a lot more since the last story broke,
about the same time as a couple who failed a DNA test to bring their twins to
America after the wife allegedly had them in Nigeria.
So what
are the reasons that make these "baby factories" so
prevalent? And why would more be found? Below are the core
issues, and they are all cultural/traditional taboos or stigmas;
1. Stigma against teenage pregnancy or any pregnancy out of wedlock
2. Stigma against infertility among couples
3.
4.
Stigma against babies born outside a marriage
5. Taboo against open and legal adoption
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