Nigeria: NAPTIP to Nigerians - If You Must Japa, Do It Well

26 July 2023
Leadership (Abuja)
By Patience Ivie Ihejirika

Director-general of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, has cautioned desperate Nigerians against indiscriminate migration in the name of the popular "Japa" so as not to be enslaved by migrant smugglers.

The DG stated this on the special edition of the online interactive programme tagged "Conversation with NAPTIP", put together as part of the activities to mark the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the Agency and the 2023 World Day Against Human Trafficking.

Conversation with NAPTIP is a specially designed platform that promotes mutual interaction between the Agency and stakeholders for the purpose of enlightenment and feedback engagement in order to improve service delivery.

The DG rolled out some of the modest achievements of the Agency within the past 20 years to include the conviction of 624 traffickers, the rescue of over 22, 000 victims of trafficking, the national spread to 32 States across the Country, sponsoring of 19 survivors through University Education, development of several counter-trafficking policies, engagement with diver stakeholders including the Justice sector through the National Judicial Institute (NJI) and global partnership with critical partners to counter the emerging trends in human trafficking.

On the dynamism of human trafficking in Nigeria and the response of the Agency in tackling them, Waziri-Azi reiterated that human trafficking has assumed a national spread across the country with the emerging trends including an increase in online catfishing of youngsters by traffickers, fake job offers and advertorials, fake scholarship offers increase trafficking under cover of sporting activities, orphanage trafficking as well as buying and selling of babies.

"In the past 20 years, the crime of human trafficking has evolved in terms of trends and patterns. But, one thing I can say for sure is that Nigeria is better poised to tackle the issues of human trafficking," she said.

According to her, through partnerships with global anti-trafficking law enforcement agencies and corporate bodies such as Meta, owner of Facebook, and the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, the Agency has been able to tackle them effectively.

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