Agency, UN body Harp On Collaboration To End Human Trafficking

The National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, and the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) have called for collaborative support to end human trafficking in Nigeria.

The call was made at the official ceremony of the compendium of good practices of state task forces in combating trafficking in persons in Nigeria on Thursday in Abuja.

The Director-General of NAPTIP, Prof. Fatima Waziri, described human trafficking as the greatest issue faced in the form of modern slavery.

According to her, “Human trafficking often inflicts unimaginable suffering upon countless individuals around the world, therefore the need for collaboration to end the menace.”

Waziri said; “Human trafficking knows no boundaries transcending geographical, cultural, and socio-economic divisions; the battle encompasses government agencies, civil society organisations, law enforcement and faith-based organisations, and the media.

“As such, to effectively end human trafficking we must create a seamless world of partners and shared accountability, which was why state task forces were established.”

“To serve as a pathway to eliminate the crime in society, the conceptualization of this initiative and implementation of the various training on bootcamps, drafting of compendium formed collaboration among national and sub-National actors.

“The compendium symbolises our commitment to fostering a United front against human trafficking and further enhances the coordination, efficiency, and effectiveness of our collective efforts at state levels.

“We must always remember that to tackle human trafficking is an endeavor that no one entity can tackle alone,” he said.

Speaking, Ms. Abimbola Adewumi, Project Coordinator, Trafficking in Persons/Smuggling of Migrants (TOP/SOM) unit, UNODC Portfolio, described the roadmap and objective of the compendium as the maiden edition of the document designed to boost fights against human trafficking.

According to her, “the first Bootcamp-one was established from July 18 to July 23, 2022, and was attended by 100 delegations from 11 state task forces.”

She said; “It was during that boot camp when the states started to present their achievements and successes we realized the rough roads we had.

“Also, there is a need for us to get something out of it that the state task forces can use to identify and make reference to, then we had report harmonisation as an outcome.

“At bootcamp two, we had ten state task forces and 89 delegates held from Sept. 19 to Sept. 23, 2022, in Lagos and also had report harmonisation.”

Adewumi said; “We realised a lot of raw data needed to be further cleared and called for a three-day technical meeting, and we had 22 state task forces from Jan. 29 to Feb. 2, 2023, in Lagos and the draft compendium was developed and validated.

“We had input of 189 persons in a document we want to publish.
“Another three-day technical clean up of the compendium from Match 15 to March 17, 2023, in Abuja, contributed to the success of the final compendium.” 

The compendium is a compilation of 147 delegates from across 23 state task forces that attended the bootcamp, which began on July 31 and ended on Aug. 4.

The event was organised by NAPTIP, in collaboration with UNODC, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Expertise France, UNHCR, A-TIPSOM Nigeria, UNHR, and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

NAN/Mercy Chukwudiebere