As part of efforts to further strengthen the war against trafficking in persons, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP), in collaboration with Benue State Government has set up a Task Force against human trafficking.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Imaam Sulaiman-Ibrahim, who spoke during a courtesy visit to Governor Samuel Ortom, on Tuesday, said NAPTIP is collaborating with State Governments to set up Task Forces against Human Trafficking to be supervised by the State Governor in order to consolidate the efforts of the Agency and other Stakeholders.
The DG lamented that the problem of Human Trafficking and Irregular Migration has become of great national concern especially with the large number of Nigerians trapped in sexual and labour exploitation in various African and European countries, apart from the hundreds that continue to die in the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea.
He said his visit to the Governor was to inaugurate the task force and strengthen the joint efforts to stem the tide of the twin evils of Human Trafficking and Irregular Migration in Benue State and Nigeria.
While commending the Benue State Government for enacting the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law, the DG noted that NAPTIP has established State Task Forces in about 14 States and are establishing three more task forces in Nasarawa, Benue and Plateau States this week.
“The State Task Forces on Human Trafficking have a pivotal role to play in ensuring adequate sensitization at the grassroots and among vuinerable groups, providing services and support to victims who have been rescued and returned, as well as information sharing and law enforcements.
“This requires strong political will and budgetary provisions on the part of the State Governments, in addition to the commitment of Traditional Institutions, religious and Community Leaders.
“Bigger and adequately equipped shelters, vocational training facilities and scholarships must be in place if we are going to provide appropriate economic empowerment for these victims as well as empowerment programmes for the rural women who are the mothers of potential victims.
“Almost all the states in Nigeria are affected by irregular migration and human trafficking but Benue state is endemic for trafficking of children for domestic servitude, exploitative labour in farms in the Western part of Nigeria, and sexual exploitation in brothels.
He thanked the Governor for facilitating the return and reunification of the last set of 19 boys who were rescued from labour exploitation in Lagos State.
He also thanked the Government of Netherlands and International Organization for Migration for sponsoring the project.
Also speaking, representative of Chief of Mission, International Organization for Migration (IOM), Miss Beta Nguvulu, commended the Governor for the leadership demonstrated in setting up the task force in the state.
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She pledged IOM’s continued partnership and commitments to the countertrafficking efforts with NAPTIP.
She noted that curbing human trafficking requires coordination and multi-dimensional strategies and establishment of state task force aimed at strengthening state level action and coordination.
According to her, from 2017 to date, IOM has facilitated the return of over 21,000 Migrants from various countries with over 3500 identified victims of trafficking in need of assistance.
She expressed appreciation to the donor, the Government of Netherlands for the unwavering support to the Trusted Sources Project aimed at improving access to trusted information sources and promoting informed decision-making, through enhanced institutional capacities and community-based actions.
“Through this project, we are providing support to nine 9 state-based task forces on human trafficking and we hope to scale up to other states,” share said.
Responding on behalf of state government, Deputy Governor, Engineer Benson Abounu, lamented the rate of vulnerable people being trafficked in Nigeria saying offenders deserve death penalties.
He implored the federal government to execute human traffickers, saying trafficking of persons especially the underage group is next to kidnapping and must be punished with death.
He, however, thanked NAPTIP and IOM for their untiring effort in the number of rescues and return of vulnerable group and migrants from various countries and pledged the commitment of Benue government to give full support for the success of their programmes in the state.
