Gender Commission rescues 8 underage children, detains 3 traffickers in bust of Jos illegal park

The Plateau State Gender and Equal Opportunities Commission announced that it has rescued eight under‑age children and arrested three suspected traffickers after uncovering an illegal trafficking motor park at Zawan Junction in Jos South Local Government Area.

Commissioner Dazyam made the statement to journalists in Jos, the state capital, on Friday.

She said she had been alerted to the existence of the park and decided to investigate. “A reliable informant told us that the park is located at Zawan Junction in Jos South LGA and that it operates only on Thursdays and Tuesdays,” she explained.

“On Thursdays, passengers are taken to a place called Sapeteri in Ibadan, Oyo State, and the park does not operate again until Tuesday,” Dazyam added. “They then bring people back from Ibadan to the park and drop them there, which raised my concerns.”

“My colleagues and I quickly drove to the area and saw five vehicles preparing for a night journey. I wanted to determine whether the park was legitimate,” she said. “At first, it didn’t look like a legitimate park; it was more of a makeshift operation with vehicles and people who appeared to be passengers. Some looked like miners, and I also saw young women who seemed about to travel.”

“We contacted the Commissioner of the Ministry of Transport to find out if he was aware of the park and whether the Nigerian Union of Road Transport Workers knew about it. To our surprise, it turned out to be an illegal park,” Dazyam said. “I am pleased with the cooperation we have with the Commissioner and the Ministry of Transport, and the security forces were quickly alerted. The police are now investigating.”

Dazyam expressed concern over the long period of silence regarding such abuses. “It appears that the silence has allowed many negative things to continue, encouraging the continuation of abuses against us,” she said.

According to her, the park has been operating for almost ten years at Zawan Junction. Preliminary investigations revealed that the children were being recruited for mining labour. “We discovered that some of them are under 18 and were about to travel,” she said. “We were told that there is a mining pond where activities are taking place in three communities in Ibadan, and these people are being recruited to work as labourers.”

She added, “This journey was organized by those in charge of transportation. None of the children paid for the transport; they are likely to be delivered to the mining communities in Ibadan before any payment is made.”

“We rescued eight underage children, three young females who are married to some of the miners, two of whom are pregnant, and we have detained three traffickers,” Dazyam concluded.