Exploring the Socio-Religious Implications of the Subset of Child Harvesting in Ibibioland

Abstract

The exploitative and illegal movement of persons constitutes one of the social vices that plague the world today. Human trafficking manifests in multifarious subsets such as sex trafficking, body part harvesting, and so on. These elements of culture can either promote human growth or undermine it. The prevalence of the phenomenon of child harvesting has brought the phrase “baby factories” into Nigerian culture. However, this study, adopting the descriptive method of research, takes a tilt towards articulating the phenomenon in order to identify the socio-religious implications on Ibibio culture. The negative cultural attitude towards adopted children and discrimination of adopted children discourage couples from legal adoption. The researcher recommends that the Ministry of Health should intensify monitoring and evaluation of traditional birth attendants operating in Akwa Ibom State, while pregnant girls and women who cannot care for their children should be drawn into the welfare plan of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare.