NAPTIP Partners CSOs in Campaign against Trafficking in Persons

By Precious Ukeje

To mark the World Day against Trafficking in Persons 2021, with the theme, “Victims’ Voices Lead the Way”, the National Agency for Prohibition against Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, July 30, partnered some civil society organizations in Anambra State in a campaign against trafficking in persons.

They were seen by Fides campaigning against the ills of human trafficking and related social vices at Eke Awka axis and encouraging victims to speak up and not keep to themselves.

The agency also enjoined people to report suspected movements of human traffickers in their areas and call the attention of security agencies as quickly as possible.

The Public Relations Officer, Anambra State Command of NAPTIP, Anthony Chekwube Okafor, while fielding questions from Fides, said they were out to sensitize the public about the dangers of human trafficking in society, its ills and ways of helping the agency and other non-governmental organizations to tackle the menace in Anambra State.

‘We have NGOs we are collaborating with; Network against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Labour, NACTAL, CSO Migration Network; and so many others who join hands with NAPTIP to make sure human trafficking is eradicated in our society,’ Okafor stated.

While the Anambra NAPTIP’s spokesperson described the relationship of the agency with security agencies as cordial, he said they worked collectively towards the total eradication of crimes in the state.

Though Okafor could not provide a specific number of persons who had reported cases of human trafficking to their office since January 2020, he said their sensitization programmes on radio and other media had yielded fruit and that people had reported several cases to their office, some of which were ongoing in court.

He lamented that some people still did not know anything about human trafficking and its dangers, a development that made them take to the streets to get the public sensitized. He encouraged members of the public to report cases of human trafficking whenever they sensed any.

Okafor discouraged parents from allowing people take their children away in the guise of sending them to schools in faraway places, describing such as antiques of human traffickers.

For her part, Eucharia Onyemaobi, Anambra State Coordinator of one of the civil society organizations, Network against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Labour, NACTAL, in a moment with the press, said they joined the campaign to commemorate the world day against trafficking in persons.

Onyemaobi said it was to raise awareness in Anambra communities and beyond, on the need to speak up and not remain in silence. This, she said, would help bring them the justice they craved for the ills meted on them.

Describing the campaign as a continuous process, she said they were collaborating with other agencies, including security agencies, and that they were also going to the hinterlands where people had access to Desk Officers on Abuse at local government offices of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps, NSCDC.

With NACTAL office located at Goodwill Junction, Okpuno, Onyemaobi said victims or people around victims could report cases of abuse and trafficking to their office.

A passerby, Ifeoma Obiora, while lending her voice to the campaign, advised people to be careful with their environment, as well as make it a duty to inform people close to them of their movements so that their locations were known, and even who they were with.