ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has revealed that the South-East region of Nigeria is among the areas with the highest cases of human trafficking in the country.Â
The agency’s Director General, Fatima Waziri-Azi, made this known on Monday in Enugu during a workshop organized by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in partnership with NAPTIP.
According to Waziri-Azi, the South-East region, particularly Enugu State, has a high rate of human trafficking, which is why it was chosen as one of the pilot states for the advocacy project.
She emphasized that human trafficking is a serious crime that affects both young and adult Nigerians, and urged people to take the campaign against it to their various communities for effective sensitization.
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The ICMPD representative, Mojisola Sodeinde, noted that over 75 per cent of trafficked victims in Africa are minors, and emphasized the need for a collective effort to combat human trafficking.
She announced that ICMPD and NAPTIP have collaborated to infuse trafficking concepts into teacher training curricula and update the NCE minimum standards to include awareness of trafficking issues.
The Enugu State Commissioner for Education, Leonard Mbah, represented by his permanent secretary, Patrick Ochi, promised to take the sensitization to secondary schools, where clubs would be formed to educate students on the dangers of human trafficking.
The workshop aimed to validate the report on the baseline carried out by NAPTIP and ICMPD for the advocacy project, which was implemented in five states, including Enugu, Edo, Delta, Benue, and Ogun.