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  • NAPTIP rescues 132 from trafficking in A’Ibom

    NAPTIP rescues 132 from trafficking in A’Ibom

    By Samuel Ogenyi, Uyo

    At least 132 persons have so far been rescued by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, from human trafficking in Akwa Ibom this year.

    The agency has also said that the establishment of the State Task Forces on Human Trafficking is a component part of the Agency’s strategic thrust aimed at expanding it’s frontiers and enhance robust partnerships in the fight against human trafficking in the country.

    NAPTIP Director General, DG, Dame Julie Okah-Donli told newsmen in Uyo yestrday that 40 of the victims were rescued from sex exploitation, 28 from baby sellers, 23 from labour exploitation while others were for other sundry exploitation issues.

    Okah-Donli who stated this on the sideline of her visit to inaugurate the state task force on human trafficking said that those rescued ranged from the ages of five months to 34 years with 40 percent of the victims from the Oron axis of the state because of it’s strategic trade location as a gateway to the Athlantic.

    The DG commended the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies in the state for their continued assistance to the agency in combating human trafficking but insisted that more would be achieved with increased support from the media, religious and traditional institutions.

    The Task Force on human trafficking she explained is premised on the need to enhance State and non-State multi sectoral response towards combating human trafficking in Nigeria and is aimed at enhancing comprehensive prevention and coordinated legal and other services for trafficked victims through capacity building , technical assistance and institutional development.

    “The overall objective of the task force is the coordination and reactivation of technical inter-agency cooperation meetings with key stakeholders including donors, developement partners, law enforcement agencies, MDAs and NGOs to enhance the capacities of state and non state actors as well as multi sectoral response towards improving partnerships.

    “These partnerships are aimed at the prevention of human trafficking, protection of victims of human trafficking, offer access to justice for victims of trafficking, prosecution of traffickers and to enhance the process of successful restoration of victims of trafficking to the state of physical, psychological, social, vocational and economic well being.” She said.

    In a remark, Project Officer, Counter Trafficking and Mixed Migration in the International Organisation for Migration,IOM, Betham Ngurum said the organisation has rescued more than 17,000 Nigerians involved in illegal migration in Libya, Mali and other parts of the world since 2017.

    Ngurum said that over 6,771 of them have so far been rehabilitated with 45 of them from Akwa Ibom while there has been requests from different parts of the Middle East for the reparation of 550 Nigerians.

  • COVID-19 poses challenge to fighting human trafficking –NAPTIP

    COVID-19 poses challenge to fighting human trafficking –NAPTIP

    The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says the contagious nature of the novel coronavirus poses serious challenge to security personnel working against human trafficking in the country.
    NAPTIP Director-General, Mrs Julie Okah-Donli, said this on Thursday at a virtual meeting organised to commemorate the 2020 World Human Trafficking Day, marked on July 30.
    Okah-Donli said that the coronavirus pandemic had hindered enforcement officers in identifying and providing support for victims of trafficking as a result of the dehumanising conditions where the victims work.
    According to the D-G, the victims are more susceptible to contracting the virus and are often at the back of the line in accessing healthcare services.
    She said that most countries had also cut back their support and services to victims of trafficking to prioritise their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.
    “The pandemic has increased the rate of unemployment and occasioned reduction in incomes especially for low wage and informal sector workers, thereby significantly increasing their vulnerability and those of their dependents to becoming victims of trafficking.
    “All these further complicate the task of identifying victims of human trafficking, which has always been a challenge, even under normal circumstances, because trafficking victims are often exploited in illegal way,’’ she said.
    Also speaking at the meeting, Hajia Sadiya-Umar Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, said that the effects of human trafficking were far reaching and required support from all and sundry.
    According to her, traffickers are adjusting the business by creating new tactics occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic to lure their victims into this illegal act.
    “Victims are trafficked, they are enslaved, abused physically and mentally, or used as sex slaves.
    “Our dear brothers and sisters are denied opportunities for education and robbed of the opportunity to develop their potential in the prime of their lives.
    “Some of the devastating impacts on those who are victims include early motherhood, unwanted pregnancies, loss of education, loss of childhood, and loss of economic opportunities.
    “We are not oblivious of the increasing social and economic inequalities that are among the root causes of human trafficking in the country.
    “The Federal Government is responding to this through several interventions designed to help Nigerians as the world grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic,’’ she said.
    The minister, however, appealed to stakeholders to do all they can to strengthen the efforts to effectively identify victims of sexual exploitation and ensure that victims are protected and have access to social benefits and health care. (NAN)

  • “NAPTIP: One Agency Genuinely fulfilling its Mandate”

    “NAPTIP: One Agency Genuinely fulfilling its Mandate”

    By Kingsley Mordi.

    According to PathFinders Justice Initiative, Human trafficking is a form of modern day slavery, involves the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain and is a $150 billion global industry. Two thirds of this figure ($99 billion) is generated from commercial sexual exploitation, while another $51 billion results from forced economic exploitation, including domestic work, agriculture and other economic activities. Supra. The average woman trafficked for forced sexual servitude/exploitation generates $100,000 in annual profits (anywhere from 100% to 1,000% return on investment) (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)). According to the United Nations, the smuggling route from East, North and West Africa to Europe is said to generate $150 million in annual profits ( $35 billion globally).
    Founded in the year 2003, during the administration of former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), a law enforcement agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, has successfully helped in the combat against human trafficking and other similar human rights violations in the Nation.
    An agency under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Justice, NAPTIP was established under a federal bill on July 14, 2003 by the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act (2003) through the advocacy of Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF).
    NAPTIP has the mandate to enforce the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act (TIPPEA) in Nigeria.
    According to research, Nigeria remains a source, transit and destination country when it comes to human trafficking. Per the latest Global Slavery Index (2018) Report, Nigeria ranks 32/167 of the countries with the highest number of slaves – 1,386,000 – and its National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) reports that the average age of trafficked children in Nigeria, now upgraded to a Tier 2 country on the U.S. State Department’s Trafficking In Persons Report (2019), is 15. Reports have it that NAPTIP further contends that 75% of those who are trafficked within Nigeria are trafficked across states, while 23% are trafficked within states. Only 2% of those who are trafficked are trafficked outside the country, according to NAPTIP (2016). It is the third most common crime in Nigeria after drug trafficking and economic fraud (UNESCO, 2006). The general factors that increase vulnerability to trafficking in Nigeria include extreme poverty (now the world’s poverty capital), corruption, conflict, climate change/resulting migration and western consumerism.
    Equipped with competent departments such as Investigation and Monitoring, Legal and Prosecution, Counseling & Rehabilitation, Public Enlightenment, Research and Programmes Development, Training and Manpower Development and its Rapid Response Squad Unit, NAPTIP has been able to discharge its duty smoothly in combating human trafficking.
    No doubt, the 53 year old Bayelsa born Director General of the Agency, Julie Okah-Donli has been instrumental to the many achievements of NAPTIP. The Agency has succeeded in jailing many human traffickers, while many cases being prosecuted by the agency are still in court.
    Okah-Jolie, a Nigerian lawyer, chartered secretary and administrator, who serves as the Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, has tackled human trafficking and other related matters head long with the assistance of many international partners, including the United States Embass, International Organisation on Migration, United Nations, WOTCLEF, American Bar Association, UNICEF among others.
    It is on record, that Edo State has long been an internationally recognized sex trafficking hub, with built in infrastructures and networks which support the sale of human bodies. According to International Organisation on Migration, about 94% of all Nigerian women trafficked to Europe for prostitution hail from Edo State, with Italy being the number one destination country. In fact, a 2003 United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute Report concluded that “virtually every Benin family has one member or the other involved in trafficking either as a victim, sponsor, madam or trafficker.” The souls and bodies of survivors are turned into commodities for financial gain while the survivors themselves are held in debt bondage, severely abused (often gang raped and physically assaulted), starved, tortured or infected with various sexually transmitted diseases before being deported back to Nigeria. Others who are victims of organ trafficking are murdered and never make it back to Nigeria.
    This gave birth to the creation of Edo State Task Force Against Human Trafficking , by Governor Obaseki in August 2017, to fight the scourge of human trafficking and unsafe migration in the State. Currently, the agency has 9 zonal commands located in Lagos, Benin, Enugu, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Oshogbo, and Makurdi.
    Since its creation, NAPTIP has convicted numbers of human traffickers. Between 2003 and 2017, the Agency has rescued over 3000 victims.
    The Okoh-Julie led agency has been at the forefront of rescuing and rehabilitating Nigerians from Libya, while it keeps receiving partnership support from different organisations.
    Statistics show that NAPTIP has received about 23 reports of sexual offences in recent times, while 29 verified sexual offences have been reported. Also, NAPTIP has successfully convicted about 15 cases, with the aid of different service providers.
    With the high record of trafficking girls to Libya for illicit acts, NAPTIP has successfully nabbed over 200 human traffickers across the nation, who never knew they would meet their waterloo so soon.
    According to the US State Department’s 2019 TIP Report, NAPTIP received 938 cases for investigation, completed 192 investigations, prosecuted at least 64 suspects in 64 cases, and convicted 43 traffickers, compared with receiving 662 cases for investigation, completing 116 investigations, 43 prosecutions, and 26 convictions in the previous reporting period. (It is noteworthy that NAPTIP’s 2018 Report contradicts these figures, instead noting that it received 1,076 cases for investigation, completed 206 investigations, prosecuted 75 matters and convicted 50 persons.) In addition, NAPTIP convicted eight perpetrators (largest category) for ‘procurement of persons for sexual exploitation.
    This is a clarion call on the Federal Government and its relevant bodies, to further equip NAPTIP, an agency which has proven beyond reasonable doubts, that it is up to the task in combating trafficking of our Nationals to the diaspora for illicit and clandestine acts.

  • NAPTIP to publish names, photos of rapists

    NAPTIP to publish names, photos of rapists

    The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has urged Nigerians to report cases of rape within their vicinity to the agency or the nearest police station.

    It said the names and photos of sex offenders in the country would soon be published.

    NAPTIP Director-General, Julie Okah-Donli, made this known on Thursday in Abuja following the rising cases of rape in the country.

    According to her, reporting cases of rape is the only way to curtail the abominable act, adding that the agency will act on reported cases.

    She said, “Rapists are now getting away with their illicit acts along with murder; these cases of domestic servitude are cases that take place behind closed doors.

    “Our job in NAPTIP is to protect Nigerian men and women, we are not going to compromise our work if they report such cases and we will ensure justice is done.

    “Rape cases are not reported because of stigmatisation of the victims and this makes the cases rise. And very soon, the names of rapists will be published with their pictures in the media.”

    Okah-Donli said the Sex Offenders’ Register had already been opened in the agency where the names of rape perpetrators were documented for further actions.