NAPTIP: Enugu Inaugurates Task Force On Human Trafficking

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has applauded Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State for his support for frontline health workers to safeguard the lives of the citizens of the state to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The body gave the commendations when its director general, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, led a delegation to the Government House, Enugu, on Wednesday, for the inauguration of the Enugu State Task Force on Human Trafficking.

Okah-Donli said NAPTIP, as the focal agency in the fight against human trafficking in Nigeria, was also the implementing agency for the Violence against Persons Prohibition Act 2015, which Enugu State domesticated on 8th May 2019. According to her, NAPTIP was collaborating with state governments to set up task forces against human trafficking, under the supervision of the state governors, to be chaired by state attorneys general to consolidate the efforts of the agency and other stakeholders.

The NAPTIP said problems associated with human trafficking as well as irregular migration had become of great national concern, especially with the large number of Nigerians trapped in sexual and labour exploitation in various African and European countries. Expressing worries that human trafficking portends danger to human and national security, the NAPTIP DG said it must be addressed.

She said the task forces on human trafficking had a role to play in ensuring adequate sensitization at the grassroots and among vulnerable groups by providing services to victims who had been rescued and returned, as well as information sharing and law enforcement.

Gov Ugwuanyi, while inaugurating the task force, described human trafficking as ‘an open wound on the body of our society, a crime against humanity, and a global phenomenon that exceeds the competence of any community or country’. He noted that his administration had earlier demonstrated commitment to the elimination of the human trafficking menace, disclosing that Enugu was among the first few states in Nigeria to pass the Child Rights and Responsibility Law of 2015.

While appreciating efforts of NAPTIP for consolidating state governments’ policies to counter the terrible scourge of human trafficking, the governor called for enhanced partnership among stakeholders to eradicate trafficking and rehabilitate survivors.

The deputy chief of staff to the governor, Prof Malachy Okwueze, on behalf of the chairman of the state task force, promised to discharge their duties diligently.

Members of the state task force include Tochukwu, Emmanuel Anyanwuma (state ministry of justice), Mr Chuka Umunna (Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment), Okenwa Uzoamaka Uzoechina (state ministry of women’s affairs and social development), CSP Ezenwa Onyekaba (Nigeria Police Force), CIS Nneka Ilojeme (Nigerian Immigration Service), Achi Idris (National Drug and Law Enforcement Agency), Ikpa Chinyere Rose (National Security and Civil Defence Corps), and Uwa Chioma (Federal Road Safety Corps).