By Chimezie Anaso
The Anambra Government says it is determined to work with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to check human trafficking and similar crimes in the state.
The Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General of the state, Prof. Sylvia Ifemeje, said this at the meeting of the state Task Force on Human Trafficking in Awka.
Ifemeje, who is the chairman of the task force, appealed to well-meaning residents to double their efforts toward ending the menace in the state.
She said that efforts were on to get the State Executive Council to approve the two-year State Action Plan on Human Trafficking, to give the campaign against trafficking the political backing.
Ifemeje said that funding was crucial, adding that the government would make funds available for the task force in its 2023 budget.
The commissioner said that awareness and sensitisation would be intensified at the grassroots level to reduce the level of vulnerability among the people.
“Intensified sensitisation should be targeted at the down-trodden and poorest of the poor, who are more vulnerable to the tricks of these criminals due to their desperate search for survival,” she said.
Also, the Commander of NAPTIP in Anambra, Mrs Judith-Chukwu Ibadin, said that the 2022-2023 Action Plan was developed to strengthen counter-trafficking campaign in the state.
According to her, the action plan was drawn from National Action Plan, while we take care of the peculiarities we have here.
“It will serve as a guide for the task force in its counter-trafficking efforts,” she said.
Ibadin, who is the co-Chair of the task force, said the surge in trafficking cases in various forms was turning Anambra into a haven for the criminals.
She appealed to the task force members to demonstrate greater commitment to the fight and ensure that the gains so far achieved were not undermined.
She said this was necessary, considering that the global rating of Nigeria and its anti-human trafficking activities had improved, since the task forces were constituted in the country.
Ibadin said that members were expected to do much more work “to keep improving our rating from tier two on the watch list to tier one”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that membership of the task force was drawn from the state Ministry of Justice, DSS, Police, FRSC, Civil Societies, the Media and Ministry of Women Affairs, amongst others.(NAN)
