By Olawale Ajimotokan
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) yesterday said it had rescued over 15,000 victims of human trafficking.
NAPTIP’s Director-General, Mr. Imaan Ibrahim, disclosed this during a courtesy visit on the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, in Abuja.
She said, “From inception till date, the agency has investigated over 10,000 cases of human trafficking, rescued over 15,000 victims of human trafficking and prosecuted close to 500 perpetrators of the crime.”
Ibrahim said the agency had through its operational activities done arrests, investigations and prosecution of perpetrators of human trafficking, counseling, rehabilitation, repatriation, as well as the reintegration of victims into the society.
In a statement issued in Abuja by the media aide to the humanitarian minister, Nneka Anibeze, the NAPTIP boss said the agency would ensure that vulnerable persons across the country were given renewed hope for a sane and secured society.
On her part, Farouq tasked NAPTIP to focus on the domestication of Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015, as well as the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 in all states of the federation.
She said focusing on the domestication of these Acts would ease some of the problems currently faced by NAPTIP in the implementation of key interventions and programmes.
“I implore you to utilise data and evidence-based systems to improve or create programmes and align these programmes with the policies of the ministry for effective multi-sectoral participation in the realisation of the core mandate of NAPTIP,” Farouq stated.
