Kidnapping and Baby Factory in Nigeria

The recognition of kidnapping as one of the major security threats is not unconnected to its unprecedented expansion in frequency, sophistication and spread in recent times in Nigeria. It has been perpetrated for vengeance (as a political or terrorist strategy), ritual (power and influence) and exploitation (ransom or sexual) in Nigeria. Accordingly, literature on kidnapping in Nigeria have mostly focused on its adoption by terrorist organisations as political tool, indulgence by ritualists for power and influence, and perpetration by criminal gangs to receive ransom. Nevertheless, there is little or no scholarly attempt to interrogate the appropriation of kidnapping for the purposes of operating or sustaining baby factory. Yet, this form of organised crime is growing in scale and sophistication in Nigeria. Baby factory generally refers to a practice in which some unmarried women and girls are harboured in confinements and encouraged, deceived or forced to become pregnant and subsequently give up their babies for sale after delivery. This chapter, therefore, examines how kidnapping is implicated in baby factory operations in Nigeria. In particular, it interrogates its political economy underpinnings, drivers and effects on contemporary Nigerian society. The analysis draws from desk research and fieldwork on baby factory operation conducted by the first author in South Eastern Nigeria, between December 2014 and April 2020. This was complemented by data mining from media reports on the subject matter.