The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), Lagos Command, says it has rescued and rehabilitated over 300 victims of human trafficking this year.
The Lagos Zonal Commander, Ganiu Aganran, who disclosed this yesterday, during an awareness campaign walk with partner organisations to mark this year’s World Day Against Human Trafficking in Lagos, said since the creation of the agency in 2003, over 16,000 victims have been rescued.
He said according to this year’s theme, ‘Victims Voices Lead The Way,’ the agency aims to involve the survivors and also create a kind of survivors advocacy group where a lot of things could be done to assist victims.
“We want to make them better people in the society; we want to take the trauma out of them. It is not a fight only for the Federal Government or the agency in charge; it is a collective fight, which cannot be left in the hands of the few.
“We are saying enough is enough; we want to ensure that their voices are heard; we are creating an advocacy group so that we can jointly do a lot for them,” he said.
The Founder and Executive Director of Live Abundantly, Dr. Onyerinma Ama, in a podcast titled, ‘Reintegration and Rehabilitation Post Human Trafficking’, to commemorate the day, said the challenge facing the victims is the traumatic experience and the stigma that follows.
She said the shocking news about human trafficking is the number of people that are affected globally, which she estimated at over 40 million, adding that over $250 billion is involved in the cartel.
While noting that human trafficking takes many forms like sexual exploitation, forced labour and others, she appealed to the Federal Government to ensure that necessary things are put in place to discourage Nigerians running out of the country in search of greener pasture.
Ama said: “We know there is insecurity. We know there is no job; we know there is no infrastructure; there is no funding. What is Nigeria doing to support the youths, the disenfranchised citizens of this country?
“If we are going to tackle this, there is need for funding for education. There is need to be social services. There is need for social education.”
