It was with mixed feelings this morning when 14 children were reunited with their families after being rescued and brought back to Yola about a month ago.
Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, represented by his deputy, Professor Kaletapwa Farauta, said with sadness that the state has been placed on the map of the unfortunate menace of child trafficking ravaging the nation.
According to her, in July 2025, the government received an intelligence report of missing children, most of them minors. Investigations led to the arrest of the ring leader, a middle-aged woman of Igbo extraction identified as Ngozi Abdulwahab.
She explained that Ngozi Abdulwahab had perfected the act of trafficking children aged 4–9 years from various communities within the state to the southeastern region of Nigeria, where she sold them for amounts ranging from ₦800,000 to ₦1.7 million per child.
Disguising her nefarious activities, Ngozi operated from a small provision shop she owned in Jambutu Ward, Yola North LGA, where she lured unsuspecting children with snacks and gifts.
“Today, as I speak to you, we have rescued about 14 children, rehabilitated them, and prepared them to be reunited with their respective parents and loved ones,” she said.
She stressed that “as a government, we will ensure the suspect faces the full wrath of the law.”
“We camped the rescued children, profiled them, conducted medical examinations on each of them, fed, clothed, and provided them with the required psychological therapy to reintegrate them into their families,” she added.
She also announced that each parent of the rescued children would receive ₦100,000 as well as food and non-food items to cushion the effect of the reunion and help set up small enterprises to support their households.
The Ministry of Women Affairs and the welfare departments of the respective local government areas, she said, have been directed to institute routine follow-ups to monitor the children’s upkeep and reintegration into their families.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Neido Geoffrey, urged parents to be more vigilant with their children and to live up to the expectations of proper parental care.
Suleiman Alkali, a member of the House of Assembly representing Yola North, also urged religious leaders to preach messages of parental responsibility and good upbringing of children as gifts from God.
Most of the rescued children are from Mubi South, Mubi North, Yola South, and Yola North LGAs, where their names had been changed to Igbo names in an attempt to disguise their identities before they were rescued.
Speaking on behalf of the parents of the rescued children, Subaru Abdulmumini thanked the government for reuniting them with their children.
“We had lost hope, but the government of Adamawa State gave us reasons to smile again. We are very happy, and we shall do everything possible to protect our children and wards,” he said.
