Gov. Umar Bago of Niger, has called on fellow state governors to join hands with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in fighting human trafficking.
This is contained in a statement by Mr Vincent Adekoye, Press Officer, NAPTIP, in Abuja on Wednesday.
Adekoye said that the governor made the call when NAPTIP Director-General (D-G), Hajia Binta Adamu-Bello paid him a visit in Abuja on Tuesday.
Bago said that there was the need to join hands with NAPTIP to tackle the issues of human trafficking and violence against persons in the country.
He noted that the phenomenon of human trafficking and violence against persons, were issues of serious concern which required the collective support of both state and non-state actors across sub-national level.
According to him, the focus on violence in persons and also trafficking in persons is very important, especially in northern Nigeria.
”We have lots of out-of-school children, especially girls and lots of domestic violence issues arising from that.
“We also have issues of violence against women as fallout of the insecurity in the region.
”There is therefore the need for the government at the sub-national, especially the northern Nigeria, to collaborate with NAPTIP to effectively address these issues.”
The governor commended the NAPTIP D-G, for her achievements within the short period of her appointment, and pledged the support of his administration to the agency.
He disclosed that the Niger Government would support the agency with landed property for the immediate take-off of the state command of NAPTIP.
”We shall give you a land with Certificate of Occupancy for the establishment of the Niger command, and we want this project to start immediately.
“If you have the personnel ready, we can also get you temporary accommodation, so that you can open the command in February.
“We are also ready to accommodate and provide support for you to establish NAPTIP regional command office in our state.
”We are very ambitious to have the northern command of this very important agency,” he said.
Earlier the D-G, NAPTIP, Adamu-Bello, briefed the governor on the establishment and mandates of the agency.
Adamu-Bello said that the visit was part of the agency strategic engagement with critical stakeholders in the fight against human trafficking.
According to her, NAPTIP presence in Niger is paramount to executing the agency mandates effectively.
“It is to enable us work closely with the state authorities, local communities, and other stakeholders to prevent trafficking, protect victims, and prosecute offenders.
”Also, our desire to have a presence in your state is due to several cases of child trafficking, child labour, and domestic servitude that we received across sub-national, where Niger is included, ” she said.
She appreciated the governor for the promise of support for the establishment of the state command command and urged other state governors to emulate the gesture.(NAN)
