The National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Katsina Command has disclosed that it has rescued no fewer than 615 victims of human trafficking in the last six months.
Musa Aliyu, the Kastina Commandant National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), made this known recently while marking the “World Day Against Trafficking in Persons”.
Aliyu noted that NAPTIP Katsina Command in collaboration with security agencies like the Nigeria Immigration Service, the Nigeria Police Force, and the Civil Society Organisations (CSO) operating in the State rescued the 615 victims.
While elucidating this year’s theme for the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons titled: “Use and Abuse of Technology,” Aliyu urged Nigerian youths to avoid being disillusioned by the so-called mantra of greener pastures abroad.
He explained that this year’s team focuses on the use of technology as a tool that can enable and impede human trafficking.
Recall that last month the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), North West Zonal Command Kano, rescued 10 victims of human trafficking on their way to the Niger Republic for labour exploitation.
NAPTIP Northwest Zonal Coordinator, Barrister Abdullahi Babale, stated that the victims were recruited from Kogi, Delta, Kwara, Oyo, Ondo, Lagos, Ogun, and Osun states.
“The agency, in collaboration with the Joint Border Task Force, rescued the 10 victims who were between the ages of 9 and 28 years. Two of them were males and eight females,” he said.
In April, the Uyo Zonal command of the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP rescued 1,444 victims between January and June 2022.
The Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, Mrs. Tina Ugwu, who disclosed this to newsmen on Thursday in Uyo, explained that 723 of the rescued victims were from Akwa Ibom, 413 from Cross River, 282 from Bayelsa while 16 were from Rivers State.
Ugwu added that within the period under review that the Uyo zonal command convicted 52 traffickers while 11 cases are still in court.
Meanwhile, the Enugu Zonal Command of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP) rescued at least 100 victims of human trafficking in the South-east between January and June.
The Enugu Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, Nneka Ajie, said the victims, who were mostly children, were exposed to sexual exploitation, child labour, violence and baby harvesting, amongst other crimes.
She also said that some of the rescued victims had been reunited with their families.
Ms. Ajie, however, said the issue of reuniting the Enugu Zonal with their families posed a challenge to NAPTIP, given that the agency had a duty to empower them.