<i>The six trainings conducted in the six geopolitical zones of the country are facilitated by NAPTIP and NIS officers who benefited from a training of trainers in June 2021.</sub>
The United Nations Offices on Drugs and Crimes says it has trained law enforcement officials in Nigeria to strengthen their efforts to combat human trafficking and smuggling of migrants.
The training focused on data capturing and analysis, Olivia Okorondu, Communications Associate, at the <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Office_on_Drugs_and_Crime">UNODC</a> said in a statement Thursday.
The training was aimed at answering questions, "What are the prevalent forms of trafficking and are they evolving? Who are the victims and where are they from? Are women and girls more affected? How do traffickers operate?"
"Answering these questions is critical not only to better understand trafficking in persons but most importantly, to better prevent and combat this crime and its complex and always evolving dynamics. Reliable, sufficient and up to date data can provide these critical answers," the statement said.
"This is the reason why UNODC, with funding from the Government of Canada, is currently training no less than 120 officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on data collection and analysis in order to combat trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants."
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In order to ensure sustainability and ownership by NAPTIP and NIS, the six trainings conducted in the six geopolitical zones of the country are facilitated by NAPTIP and NIS officers who benefited from a training of trainers in June 2021.
Following the methodology of UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons and UNODC Observatory on Smuggling of Migrants, the training focused on data collection paying attention to tracking and mapping offenses, profiles of victims and migrants, perpetrator backgrounds and forms of exploitation, and communicates best practices on data collection and analysis.
Training sessions already took place in Enugu for NAPTIP and NIS officers based in South-East states, as well as in Osogbo (South-West). This week's session is taking place in Benin City (South-South), and benefits not only NAPTIP and NIS officers but also members of the Edo State Taskforce Against Human Trafficking. Three more sessions are planned in the upcoming weeks in Makurdi (North Central), Maiduguri (North East) and Kano (North West).
