US Raises Concerns Over Trafficking in Nigeria

Nigeria has failed to fully meet minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking, with corruption and official complicity remaining significant concerns, according to the 2026 Trafficking in Persons report released by the US State Department.

The report, covering the period from April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, kept Nigeria in Tier 2, a category reserved for governments that do not fully comply with minimum standards but are making significant efforts to do so.

It also placed Nigeria on the Child Soldiers Prevention Act list, alongside Afghanistan, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Russia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Venezuela and Yemen.

The designation could trigger restrictions on US military training, financing, and equipment from October 1, 2026, unless the president waives them.

Official complicity unaddressed

The State Department said Nigeria “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.”

It also added that Nigeria “did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees allegedly complicit in trafficking crimes or provide details or other actions taken against complicit officials from previous years, even though corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns.”

On forced marriage, the report stated, “In many cases, the government coerces victims of forced marriage, including trafficking victims, to return to their Boko Haram husbands in Borno State demobilization centers.”

It added that the government, with an international organisation, continued a handover protocol for children allegedly associated with non-state armed groups, but “unlike the previous year, the government did not report transferring any children.”

Fewer victims assisted

The government identified 2,004 victims in 2025, 893 sex trafficking and 1,111 forced labour cases, similar to the 2,058 identified a year earlier, but assisted only 675, down from 2,058.

“There was only one dedicated NGO shelter for adult male victims; as a result, NAPTIP shelters sometimes accommodated men, women, and children in the same shelter,” the report said.

It added, “The government required victims to cooperate in law enforcement proceedings to access certain protection services, such as accommodation in NAPTIP shelters.”

On those who refused shelter, it stated, “The government did not provide services to adult victims who declined shelter services, increasing their vulnerability to trafficking.”

NAPTIP continued to run 14 shelters across 10 zonal commands, mainly assisting women and children. Observers said some victims were reluctant to cooperate with law enforcement because of court delays and limited assistance.

Prosecution gains recorded

The report acknowledged increased enforcement, stating that “in 2025, the government reported investigating 1,341 trafficking cases… involving 1,367 suspects, prosecuting 94 suspects… and convicting 97 traffickers; this compared with 744 investigations, 71 prosecutions, and 49 convictions in 2024.

It added that the Nigerian government sentenced the majority of convicted traffickers to “at least one year of imprisonment,” and 14 victims received restitution.

On funding, “the government allocated 233 million naira ($161,000) for victim services, an increase compared with 128 million naira ($88,276) the previous year,” it said, adding that prevention funding reached “245 million naira ($169,000)… compared with 58.8 million naira ($406,897) the previous year.”

Nigeria also set up a police cybercrime unit and worked with other governments and INTERPOL on online scam investigations in West Africa and Southeast Asia.

Trafficking profile

The report described exploitation across several sectors, noting that “traffickers exploit children in sex trafficking and forced labor, including in granite quarries and artisanal mines, domestic work, begging, street vending, textile manufacturing, and agriculture,” it said.

It also observed, “Some corrupt Quranic school teachers exploit children, mostly boys from rural areas, in forced labor in begging and seasonal agricultural work.”

On organised networks, it said: “Organized trafficking networks transport Nigerian women and girls to mining regions in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Côte d’Ivoire for exploitation in sex trafficking.”

It described “money marriages” as a risk factor, saying that, “in some states, families ‘sell’ women and girls into forced marriages to older men to repay family debt in the traditional practice of ‘money marriages,’ increasing vulnerability to trafficking.”

On “baby factories,” it also stated that “Illicit actors operate ‘baby factories’ — often disguised as orphanages, maternity homes, or religious center — where traffickers hold women against their will, rape them, and force them to carry and deliver a child. They then sell the children, sometimes with the intent of exploiting them in forced labor and sex trafficking.”

It added, “Poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and displacement caused by insecurity and extreme flooding increase Nigerians’ vulnerability to trafficking.”

Child soldiers and foreign exploitation

The report said Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa “continue recruiting, abducting, and using—including through force, fraud, and coercion—child soldiers as young as 12 years old as cooks, domestic workers, spies, porters, messengers, bodyguards or guards at checkpoints, ‘morality police,’ armed combatants, and suicide bombers in attacks in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and Niger; these children are subjected to physical and sexual abuse and forced drug use.”

It added, “Boko Haram punishes girls, including for refusing to marry, by forcing them to be suicide bombers.”

Criminal gangs in the south recruit and use children in forced criminality, including kidnappings and robberies, and exploit them in sex trafficking. Criminal gangs in the northwest also exploit victims in forced labor in agriculture and mining, according to the report.

On foreign exploitation, the report said, “Sources reported Nigeria’s Ministry of Education helped promote Russia’s Alabuga Start program despite red flags in the recruitment process. Russian authorities fraudulently recruit and use Nigerians to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war.”

It also stated, “North Korean nationals working in Nigeria may be operating under exploitative working conditions and display multiple indicators of forced labor. Chinese nationals working in Nigeria may have been forced to work by the Chinese government.”

Prevention efforts

NAPTIP continued to lead federal anti-trafficking efforts, implementing the 2022-2026 National Action Plan, with task forces in 23 states coordinating locally.

The government ran an anti-trafficking hotline and funded awareness campaigns in at-risk communities and schools, according to the report.

However, the report said the government “did not report holding them liable civilly and criminally for fraudulent recruitment” of labour recruiters, and “did not prohibit worker-paid recruitment fees.”

It also noted that the Ministry of Labour and Employment “did not provide specialized training on child labor and human trafficking to labor inspectors during the reporting period,” and that the government “did not provide anti-trafficking training to its diplomatic personnel.”