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  Okparaku Josephine A child is supposed to be protected, cared for, and given the opportunity to grow, learn, and build a future. But for some children in Imo State, this is not their reality. Trafficking does not always involve strangers kidnapping children. Sometimes, children are taken by people they know or people who pretend to want to help them. In 2025 alone, the Imo State Police Command rescued 12 children between the ages of 5 and 13 who were allegedly being trafficked from Ngor-Okpala to Aba and forced into street begging. In Imo State, child trafficking happens in different ways. Some families as a result of poverty and economic hardship allow their children to go stay with relatives, who they trust to give their children the best care, but in turn these children are brought to the city to undergo child labor, sex exploitation and other forms of child abuse. Teenage girls are particularly vulnerable to trafficking. Some are promised jobs, education or better lives but l...

  Blessing Iriaka et Chimezie Ebosie during an interview session.  By Blessing Iriaka  A budget can look impressive on paper. Billions allocated to roads. Billions for power. Billions for education. Billions for health and other public services.    But the real question is not how much government plans to spend. It is what citizens will actually see at the end of the year.    That question became particularly important to me while examining Imo State's 2026 budget, estimated at more than ₦1 trillion, following concerns about the implementation of the state's 2025 budget.    During a conversation with Chimezie Ebosie, Imo State Officer of BudgIT Foundation, on my programme, Eye on Corruption, we examined what the 2025 experience could teach citizens about the year ahead.    The size of Imo's 2026 budget is significant. It is reportedly the largest budget in the state's history, with increased revenue projections partly linked to rece...

By Blessing Iriaka  Child abuse remains one of the quiet crises ravaging Nigeria. And sometimes, the people a child should be safest with are the very people they need protection from. In December 2025, Onyinyechi, a five-year-old girl from Ideato North, Imo State, was burned, broken, and left defenseless by her supposed guardian .  What was her crime ? She didn `t kill She didn`t steal She didn`t Violate any law, all she didn't do was the house chores as signed to her earlier . P robably , Onyi was tired and needed some rest, probably she was hungry and needed to eat before she continued , probably she was just resting a bit.   Onyinyechi suffered severe burns after her guardian, Juliet Igwe, allegedly used a candle flame to burn her private parts and forced her hands into boiling water. Medical examination reportedly classified the injuries as third-degree burns , which mandated her to undergo two corrective procedures of debridement and skin grafting while ...