Baby factory syndicates: An emerging child adoption racket in Nigeria

Abstract

In Nigeria, the recent discovery of criminal syndicates that specialise in the buying and selling of babies by law enforcement agents has called into question the efficacy of the extant institutional framework designed to regulate child adoption process. The concern of this paper is to describe the modus operandi of baby factory syndicates in Nigeria, the root causes of the phenomenon, and its implications. The reports of some Nigerian and foreign media on incidents of baby factory were essentially reviewed using content analysis. Neutralization theory was employed as the explanatory framework. The authors argue that baby factory is an off-shoot of the systemic corruption bedeviling the Nigerian nation. The Federal Government of Nigeria is urged to develop a clear-cut road-map to strengthen the existing child adoption process as a way of tackling the baby factory syndicates exploiting its current haphazard status for illicit gains.

Keywords: Baby Factory Syndicates, Child Adoption, Corruption, Nigeria