NAPTIP to establish West Africa regional training academy in Nasarawa

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons NAPTIP, has disclosed plans to establish a regional training academy for the entire West Africa in Nasarawa State.

Director-General of NAPTIP, Mrs. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, made this known when she led her team on a courtesy call to the state governor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule at the Government House in Lafia, the state capital.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim commended the governor for supporting the agency carry out its mandate and specifically thanked him for accepting the establishment of its regional training academy which will service the whole of West Africa.

Governor Sule expressed appreciation for the selection of Nasarawa as the location for its regional training academy and said the state deserves to host such a facility mostly because of her proximity to the federal capital.

He assured NAPTIP of the continued support of his administration and that the government is already looking for a site to situate the project in Karu Local Government Council.

“Once the land is available, the government will immediately fence it for the agency”, the governor said.

Governor Sule informed the delegation that the state already has the death penalty in place to serve as a deterrent to rapists and restated the commitment of his administration to fight the evil.

“In Nasarawa State, we already signed the anti-rape law last year and we have already started working on that. We have also signed both the child’s protection and violence against women laws“, he said.

Inauguration of state taskforce on human trafficking
The NAPTIP boss was in the state to liaise with the government to stem human trafficking and irregular migration in the state and across the country as well as to witness the inauguration of the 19-member Nasarawa State taskforce on human trafficking.

NAPTIP is collaborating with state governments to set-up taskforces under the supervision of the state governors to further consolidate the efforts of the agency. One of such is the setting up of three state taskforces in Nasarawa, Benue, and Plateau states within the week.

The governor inaugurated the state task force on human trafficking and urged the committee to be active in its responsibilities.

The taskforce has the state Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice as Chairman and the zone Commandant of NAPTIP as co-Chairman.

Nneka Ukachukwu