AKURE, Nigeria (FN) — Nigerian police have rescued five pregnant underage girls and arrested a woman accused of running a “baby factory” where newborns were allegedly sold for profit, authorities said Sunday.
The suspect, Ada Clement, was detained after officers raided a compound in Ore, a town in Ondo State, following a report from a 17-year-old victim who escaped captivity. She told police she was trafficked from Akwa Ibom State under the false promise of a job, only to be confined in a maternity home where other pregnant girls were held.
Police spokesperson Olayinka Ayanlade said investigators found five pregnant girls and a newborn boy at the facility. “Preliminary findings indicate that the suspect sold female babies for 400,000 naira (about 270 Dollars) and males for 600,000 naira (about 400 Dollars),” he said. “The victims are now in protective custody and receiving medical and psychological care.
Ondo State Commissioner of Police Adebowale Lawal ordered a full investigation and pledged to prosecute everyone involved. “What we discovered is inhumane and shocking,” Lawal said. “No one should profit from another person’s body or from a child’s birth.”
The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs condemned the case, calling it “a despicable violation of child rights.” Minister Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye said the government is working with police and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to dismantle trafficking networks and tighten oversight of private maternity and adoption homes.
NAPTIP Director-General Fatima Waziri-Azi described the Ondo rescue as “another reminder that baby-factory crimes are spreading across Nigeria” and urged communities to report suspicious facilities. “These factories thrive in silence,” she said. “We cannot protect our daughters if we remain quiet.”
The incident follows several similar discoveries in recent years. In Anambra State, police raided a fake maternity home in August and rescued six pregnant teenagers. Earlier in Abia State, officers freed 16 women and eight children from a baby-selling ring that trafficked infants to buyers across southern Nigeria.
Human-rights advocates say poverty, unemployment and the stigmatization of single mothers drive vulnerable girls into the hands of traffickers. Activist Grace Okoro, who works with a women’s shelter in Lagos, said many victims “believe they’re getting domestic jobs until they find themselves imprisoned and forced to sell their babies.”
“The real tragedy,” she added, “is that these girls are treated as commodities, not as children themselves.”
Police said efforts are ongoing to track down additional suspects and potential buyers linked to the Ondo operation. Authorities are also working to reunite victims with their families once investigations are complete.
