The ASK WARIF column is a quarterly interactive platform designed to educate, inform, and empower our readers as we address critical issues surrounding Gender-Based Violence. Through this space, we share insights drawn from our work at the WARIF Rape Crisis Centre, while responding to questions submitted by the public. Each response is provided by a team of experienced professionals, including doctors, counsellors, legal experts, law enforcement officers, and survivors who have chosen to share their stories. Their voices are powerful tools for awareness, healing, and prevention, with the hope of protecting the next woman or girl from experiencing sexual violence.

Is Nigeria Winning the Fight Against Child Sex Trafficking? A Look at the Scale, Effects, and Outlook

Child sexual trafficking is one of the most serious forms of violence against children and remains a significant child protection challenge in Nigeria. It involves the recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or exploitation of children for sexual purposes through force, deception, coercion, or abuse of vulnerability. Under international law, a child cannot consent to being trafficked.

Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for child trafficking. Children—particularly girls, those living in poverty, internally displaced children, and out-of-school children—are at increased risk due to poverty, insecurity, displacement, weak child protection systems, and the growing use of online platforms by traffickers. According to UNICEF, Nigeria has approximately 105–110 million children and adolescents, making child protection a national priority.

How Are Children Exploited?

Child sexual trafficking may involve:

• Commercial sexual exploitation
• Forced prostitution
• Online sexual exploitation
• Production of child sexual abuse material
• Forced marriage involving sexual exploitation

The Impact on Children

The consequences of child sexual trafficking are severe and often lifelong. Survivors may experience:

• Physical injuries, sexually transmitted infections (including HIV), unwanted pregnancies, and other reproductive health complications.
• Psychological trauma, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), low self-esteem, and suicidal thoughts.
• Interrupted education, school dropout, and reduced employment opportunities.
• Social stigma, family separation, homelessness, and continued vulnerability to exploitation.

Why It Matters

Child sexual trafficking does not only harm individual children—it affects families, communities, and Nigeria’s future. If left unaddressed, it can contribute to increased poverty, poor educational outcomes, reduced workforce productivity, higher healthcare costs, and the expansion of organised criminal networks.

What Can Be Done?

Preventing child sexual trafficking requires a coordinated response:

• Strengthen child protection systems and law enforcement.
• Expand access to quality education and social protection programmes.
• Raise awareness in schools and communities.
• Improve birth registration and child identification.
• Promote online child safety.
• Provide comprehensive medical, legal, and psychosocial support for survivors.
• Strengthen collaboration among government agencies, civil society organisations, and communities.

Key Message

Every child deserves to grow up free from exploitation and abuse. Protecting children from sexual trafficking requires collective action—from families, schools, communities, government institutions, and civil society. By addressing the root causes of trafficking and supporting survivors, Nigeria can build a safer future where every child has the opportunity to thrive.

If you have been raped or know someone who has, please visit us at The WARIF Centre – 6, Turton Street, off Thorburn Avenue, Sabo, Yaba, or call our 24-hour confidential helpline on 08092100009.

June 2026 – written by Isoken Enehikhuere