Traffickers taking advantage of poverty, Japa trend -NAPTIP

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has said traffickers are weaponising Nigerians’ desperation for greener pastures abroad to recruit many victims into modern-day slavery.

It said only aggressive sensitisation campaigns would help stem the tide.

NAPTIP’s Director-General, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, made this observation when she spoke at a town hall dialogue with community stakeholders in Abuja on Monday.

The meeting was part of events lined up to commemorate the 2024 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

Waziri-Azi said, “When people talk about japa and we laugh, it’s not funny. Traffickers have really taken advantage of this. When we talk about human trafficking, as long as we do not deal with the causes in a very strategic way, we keep going around in circles. What are those causes? Socioeconomic and sociopolitical factors, poverty, lack of jobs.

“When I interact with community stakeholders, I tell them that poverty is not a reason to throw caution into to the wind. When somebody comes to sell you a dream that will never be, ask questions.

“But we must continue to give people the right information. So whether NAPTIP, other sister law enforcement agencies, NACTAL, NGOs or CSOs, we have to keep churning out the right information.

“There’s a lot of misinformation and disinformation out there. It’s ridiculous. Somebody comes to you and tells you, ‘come and sell your kidney for X amount of money, your kidney will grow back.’ And people actually believe that? We are privileged to know that those are all lies. But not everyone knows.”

She said NAPTIP received support such as operational vehicles from its partners such as the German, Canadian and British Governments as well as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Federal Capital Territory and the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies.

In his welcome address, NAPTIP’s Director of Intelligence, Mr. Josiah Emerole, said the theme of this year’s World Day Against Human Trafficking, ‘Leave No Child Behind in the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons,’ underscores the urgency and importance of its mission.

“However, our work is far from over, and as we stand united today, let us in one accord sustain this fight so that, together we can achieve our shared goal of a world where no child is subjected to the horrors of trafficking,” he said