Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Senator Basheer Garba Muhammed, has promised to improve synergy and collaboration with stakeholders and partners in order to completely make Nigeria a trafficking free nation even as he scored the Agency high in its operations.
The NAPTIP boss who expressed mixed feeling over the 2020 United States Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report which elevated Nigeria from the previous Tier 2 Watch list to Tier 2 ranking, said the Agency is presently studying the report with a view to identifying areas of improvement and scale up the activities of the Agency.
He stated this in Abuja while speaking with the media on the activities lined up for the 2021 World Day Against Trafficking. He was represented by the Director, Legal and Prosecution Department, Mr. Hassan Tahir.
Senator Garba Muhammed said, “ even though we, as an Agency of Government, may not have fully attained all our set goals and objectives due to some notable societal cultural and other hindrances, I am glad to report to you all that we are not where we used to be in terms of ranking and other parameters.
“As you all may have heard and read, Nigeria has now been upgraded to the Tier 2 list in the just released US 2021 TIP Report. While we have commenced clinical diagnosis of the report with a view to noting areas of improvement, the Agency shall continue to work assiduously with all partners and Stakeholders towards the fulfilment of the required minimum standards in the mitigation of human trafficking in the Country.
“Secondly, while the Agency has continued to rescue, counsel, rehabilitate and empower victims of human trafficking in line with its mandates, traffickers and other sundry offenders are no more having it pleasant as the Agency has continued to smoke them out and prosecute them. As at last count, over 550 traffickers have been jailed with many cases at various prosecution stages in Courts across the Country. Over 17, 00 victims have been rescued and a good number of them trained and empowered.
“As a way of boosting the operations of the Agency, NAPTIP has increased its presence and spread to over 12 States and still counting. Our desire is to infiltrate all parts of the Country in order to outsmart the traffickers and beat them to their tricks”. He said.
The NAPTIP Director General disclosed that the weeklong event shall also feature unveiling of some landmark projects by the Agency in collaboration with some partners.
He said, “He said. “In addition to the above scheduled activities, there will be some notable spotlight events on Friday 30thJuly, namely: the unveiling of two projects to be implemented by the UNODC. They are “Strengthening Nigeria’s Criminal Justice Response to Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants – PROMIS” project supported by The Netherlands and “Strengthening Trans-Regional Action and Responses against the Smuggling of Migrants – STARSOM” project supported by Canada”
’’ We will also be launching the Harmonised Screening and Reporting Tools for identification of Victims of Human Trafficking developed with the support of the IOM.”, Senator Garba Muhammed said.
It is on record that in December 2013, the United Nations General Assembly decided by its Resolution A/RES/68/192 entitled “Improving the coordination of efforts against trafficking in persons” to observe July 30 of every year as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. The rationale behind the choice of this date lies in the fact that the UN Global Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons, the first universal and comprehensive document concerning the issue of combating human trafficking, was adopted on July 30 2010. This Resolution declared that such a day was necessary to “raise awareness on the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.” Since this declaration, various State Parties including Nigeria have been taking a number of actions to commemorate this day every year.
According to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crimes (UNODC), the custodian of the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) under which the Palermo Protocol on Human Trafficking took its root, the theme for the 2021 World Day Against Human Trafficking is: ‘’Victims’ Voices Lead the Way’’.
Stella Nezan
Head, Press and Public Relations Unit
