By Chimezie Godfrey
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons NAPTIP has been tasked to focus on the domestication of Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Enforcement and Administration Act 2015 (TIPPEA) and Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015 (VAPP) in all states of the Federation.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Umar Farouq gave the charge when the Director General of NAPTIP Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim paid her a courtesy visit in Abuja on Monday.
Farouq said that focusing on the domestication of TIPPEA and Violence Against Persons Act will ease some of the problems currently faced by NAPTIP in the implementation of key interventions and programmes.
She also urged the DG to make use of data systems to create programs and align with the Ministry’s policies.
“As you have assumed the leadership role for the Agency, I implore you to utilize data and evidence-based systems to improve or create programmes and align these programmes with the policies of the Ministry, to ensure effective multi-sectoral participation in the realization of the core mandate of NAPTIP”.
The Minister pledged Federal Government’s continued provision, support, and commitment to the Anti-Human Trafficking cause and also urged the new DG to build on previous successes and strategic relationships to ensure a collaborative and transformational approach to stemming human trafficking and domestic violence in Nigeria.
Earlier, the NAPTIP DG, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim thanked President Buhari for the confidence reposed on her to pilot the affairs of the agency.
She stressed that despite the strides of success recorded by the Agency in the past, there was still much to be done.
”NAPTIP is fully committed to the prevention of all forms of human degradation and exploitation through the coordinated use of the nation’’s crime prevention and law enforcement resources to stamp out human trafficking and to liberate and uplift the vulnerable, especially women, children and youths from dehumanizing and exploitative employment and usage through the deployment of the Five P Approachsuch as policy development, prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnering with stakeholders to ensure their rehabilitation and effective reintegration of victims into the society,” she stated.
The DG also assured that NAPTIP is committed to ensuring that the vulnerable in the society are given a renewed hope for a sane and secured society.
According to her, the Agency has through its operational activities done arrests, investigation, and prosecution of perpetrators of human trafficking, counseling, rehabilitation, repatriation, and reintegration of victims into the society.
She said from inception till date, the Agency has investigated over ten thousand cases of human trafficking, rescued over fifteen thousand victims of human trafficking and prosecuted close to five hundred perpetrators of the crime.
The DG also enumerated operational and administrative challenges hindering the growth and development of the agency while also presenting two policy documents to be presented to the Federal Executive Council for approval and adoption.
The documents, National Policy for the Protection and Assistance to Trafficked Persons, and Protocol on Identification, Safe Return and Rehabilitation of Trafficked Persons will help to provide victims of trafficking with assistance.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry Mallam Basheer Nura Alkali, the Director Humanitarian Affairs Alhaji Ali Grema and other management staff of the ministry and NAPTIP were in audience during the courtesy visit.
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