Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), announced on Friday, that no fewer than 23 persons were convicted of human trafficking in 2019 by several courts.
It also disclosed that 749 human trafficking and other related cases were reported to the agency in the past 11 months. It said that 538 suspects were taken to court for prosecution. It won 16 different cases and most importantly, rescued 876 victims from the clutches of human traffickers.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, on Friday, the Director General of the Agency, Julie Okah-Donli, attributed the success recorded in the outgoing year to the support it received from local and international partners, including the media.
She disclosed the agency embarked on several programmes in the outgoing year, but it concentrated on awareness creation and advocacy, which resulted in regional and global engagement with policy makers and other stakeholders to enhance cooperation and synergy.
She disclosed that NAPTIP, with the support of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) successfully mainstreamed trafficking in persons issue into minimum standards curriculum of Colleges of Education.
“As a follow up, no fewer than 400 teachers were trained by NAPTIP and NCCE personnel on methodology to adopt in teaching the course.” She stressed that plans are underway to deny some people travel opportunity if they are not cleared by NAPTIP with certificate of clearance issued to them.