The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), said on Friday that it secured 23 convictions of human trafficking offenders in 2019.
Director-General of the agency, Mrs. Julie Okah-Donli, made the disclosure during a parley with journalists in Abuja.
According to her, a total of 749 human trafficking and other related cases were reported to the agency out of which 538 suspects were taken to court for prosecution.
She said 16 of the cases were won by the agency, while 876 victims were rescued from the human traffickers.
Okah-Donli attributed the success recorded by the agency this year to the support the it received from local and international partners, including the media.
“The agency embarked on several programmes in the outgoing year but it majorly concentrated on awareness creation and advocacy which resulted in regional and global engagement with policy makers and other stakeholders,” she said
She said NAPTIP, with the support of the International Centre for Migration and Policy Development (ICMPD), successfully mainstreamed trafficking in persons issues into the minimum standards curriculum of Colleges of Education.
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Furthermore, she said that no fewer than 400 teachers had been trained by NAPTIP and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), on methods to adopt in teaching the course.
Also, the NAPTIP boss disclosed very soon some would not be able to travel out if they were not cleared by NAPTIP with the certificate of clearance issued to them by the agency.
She said some schools intending to travel out of the country for excursion purposes or for other reasons, have written to the agency for clearance checks, but added that the compliance record was low.
She however attributed this lack of awareness saying that with time, more schools will begin to comply.
“Travel agents, who arrange ‘illegal’ travels may likely be hit by this new law.
“We shall soon notify the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), and other sister agencies who are at all the entry and exit points to ensure that they assist us in enforcing the law,” she added.
