By Adedapo Adesanya

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has sealed a suspected illegal maternity facility in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and arrested three people over an alleged N13.5 million baby sale involving a Liberian national residing in Belgium.

The agency said the suspects included the owner of the facility, an alleged facilitator of the baby sale and a member of staff.

According to a statement issued on Thursday by NAPTIP’s Head of Press and Public Relations Unit, Mr Vincent Adekoye, the facility, located in the Elelenwo area of Port Harcourt, was allegedly operating from a residential apartment.

The operation was carried out jointly by NAPTIP operatives from Abuja and Rivers State, in collaboration with officials of the Rivers State Ministry of Health, following intelligence about a suspected child-trafficking syndicate involved in the procurement, sale and unlawful transfer of children.

NAPTIP said preliminary investigations indicated that the Liberian national arrived in Nigeria without evidence of pregnancy but allegedly took custody of three children within about one month.

The agency said intelligence available to it suggested that approximately ₦13.5 million changed hands in connection with the transfer of the three children.

Investigators are now working to establish the identities, whereabouts and welfare of the children, as well as determine their biological and legal parentage.

The investigation will also trace the financial transactions linked to the alleged transfers and establish the roles played by medical personnel and other individuals who may have facilitated the suspected criminal activity.

NAPTIP said the facility was sealed to preserve potential evidence while investigations continue.

The agency said the operation formed part of its nationwide crackdown on fraudulent maternity and healthcare facilities allegedly operating as so-called baby factories.

NAPTIP Director-General, Mrs Binta Bello, expressed concern over the alleged activities of some maternity and health facilities, particularly their suspected involvement in illegal adoption, child sales and trafficking.

She said, “I am particularly disturbed that foreign nationals now come to Nigeria to patronise these suspected criminal elements and procure children like a common object of trade across the border. This is sad and totally unacceptable.

“We have spread our dragnet to fish out all those involved in this case, and they shall be made to face the full wrath of the law,” she said.

She further said the investigation remained active and that anyone found culpable would be prosecuted in accordance with the law.

“I wish to reaffirm that the matter remains under active investigation and that all persons found connected to it will be subjected to due process under the law. The Agency will ensure that anyone found culpable is brought to justice, while the safety and welfare of the affected children remain its foremost priority,” she added.

The NAPTIP chief urged members of the public to remain vigilant and report suspected cases of child trafficking, illegal adoption, baby-selling and other forms of exploitation to the agency through its nearest zonal or state command.

NAPTIP said the latest operation followed an earlier directive by Bello to intensify surveillance of suspected maternity facilities across the country after intelligence suggested that some had become centres for fertility scams, child sales and trafficking.

By Adedapo Adesanya

The chief executive of Oando Plc, Mr Wale Tinubu, says the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is now the largest financier of oil and gas projects on the African continent.

Mr Tinubu said the bank has committed over $25 billion in Africa’s oil and gas sector while speaking at the Royal African Society’s conference in London on the next 125 years of mining, oil and gas in Africa, according to a social media post on Wednesday.

“Afreximbank is now the largest financier of oil and gas on this continent, with more than twenty-five billion dollars committed,” he wrote on X.

Mr Tinubu said 20 years ago, when Oando wanted to list on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, “we were told what would be required of us”.

He said the company was directed to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), while the board was also asked to appoint independent directors who could tell the founder “no”.

“Get on a plane and explain ourselves, quarter after quarter, to people who had never set foot in Lagos. It was uncomfortable. It was also the most valuable thing we ever did to ourselves,” he said.

“I returned to that experience in London at the Royal African Society’s (@royafrisoc) discussion on the next 125 years of mining, oil and gas in Africa, where I was asked what African companies need in order to scale.

“The answer begins at home. Much of African enterprise started out fractured; family-held, informally governed, structurally invisible to anyone underwriting a twenty-year risk. Global capital hesitates over what it cannot examine.”

The Oando CEO said governance is more than a compliance exercise, describing it as an instrument that makes a company legible to the world.

“The second half of the answer sits with the world. When European lenders withdrew from African hydrocarbons in pursuit of their own net zero commitments, they did not end demand for African energy,” he said.

“They ended their participation in it. African institutions stepped into that space.”

Mr Tinubu said African firms have done the harder work “of making ourselves investable”, noting that what does not get financed does not get built, and “there is still much to build in Africa for those willing to build it with African companies”.

In Nigeria, the bank has been a major financier of the 650,000 barrels-per-day Dangote Petroleum Refinery, including a $1.35 billion facility in 2025 to refinance construction costs and a further $2.5 billion underwriting commitment in 2026.

The bank has also supported the development of the 200,000 barrels-per-day Lobito Refinery in Angola, the 60,000 barrels-per-day Cabinda Refinery, and the refurbishment of Nigeria’s 210,000 barrels-per-day Port Harcourt Refinery. It has additionally approved financing for the BUA and Azikel refineries in Nigeria and supported Société Ivoirienne de Raffinage in Côte d’Ivoire.

Beyond refining, Afreximbank committed up to $400 million in guarantees and direct lending to Mozambique’s Area 1 LNG project, one of Africa’s largest LNG developments, to support the extraction, processing and liquefaction of offshore gas.

In Angola, the bank helped arrange a $1.75 billion syndicated facility for Sonangol to support the national oil company’s operating and capital expenditure requirements. It has also been mandated to advise on raising capital for Equatorial Guinea’s $4.5 billion EG-27 LNG project, which is expected to produce about 2.4 million tonnes of LNG annually. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the lender is supporting preparations for a 200MW reservoir-based hydropower project along the Lufira River, designed to provide electricity to mining operations.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Ogoni people have been assured of a good deal emanating from the ongoing dialogue with the federal government on the planned resumption of oil exploration in the area.

This assurance was given by the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) through its leader, Mr Fegalo Nsuke, at the group’s steering committee meeting on Wednesday.

In a statement signed by the Secretary General of MOSOP, Mr Alex Akori, it was stressed that for over 30 years, the Ogoni people have sought a mutual dialogue with the central government, and that is now ongoing, with substantial progress being made on the part of community mobilisation and the dialogue process.

“For over 30 years, we have advocated for a peaceful resolution of the Ogoni conflicts. I am glad that the dialogue is ongoing and it is going well. I am also very optimistic that we will strike a good deal from the process,” Mr Nsuke stated.

He described the dialogue process as a reward for non-violence, urging other regions of the country to emulate the peaceful resistance of the Ogoni people rather than taking to armed struggle.

“The Ogoni dialogue process is significant for several reasons. First, it has gained overwhelming acceptance as a pathway to resolve the Ogoni problem, and that is very important. Secondly, it is an encouragement for non-violent struggles. Thirdly, it is people-centred and designed to accelerate development in Ogoni,” Mr Nsuke added.

He thanked the Ogoni people for giving peace a chance and for accepting to go into a dialogue describing the initiative as one of the best decisions ever taken in the direction of a three-decade search for peace, development and a new beginning for the Ogoni people.

In a related development, the MOSOP Steering Committee, the highest decision-making organ of the organisation, elected Mr Nwale Emereonwi, Mr Kpoobari Gbidum, and Lekue Zini as Deputy President, Assistant Secretary-General, and President of the National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP), respectively.