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The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says Enugu State is endemic for baby factory, child abuse, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Mrs Julie Okah-Donli, said this in Enugu during an advocacy visit to the palace of Igwe Julius Nnaji, the Traditional Ruler of Nike in Enugu East Local Government Area of the state.
Okah-Donli said that although all the states in the federation were affected by migration and human trafficking, Enugu state remained endemic.
She said that the agency rescued no fewer than 444 indigenes of the state, comprising 339 females and 105 males from the vice between 2004 and July 2020.
“These victims were subjected to child abuse, sale of baby, domestic servitude, foreign travels and sexual exploitation,” she said.
The NAPTIP boss listed Enugu North, Enugu South, Enugu East, Nsukka, Igboeze South, Igboeze North, Aninri and Awgu as the most endemic local government areas.
She said that the agency was in the state to inaugurate the Enugu State Task Force on Human Trafficking.
Okah-Donli said that the task force would help to strengthen the capacity of state and non-state institutions to assist, support and protect victims of trafficking.
She said that the effort would enhance collaboration between communities and government to reduce and prevent trafficking through targeted sensitization and capacity building workshops.
She regretted that in spite of efforts to contain human trafficking and its associated ills, the menace continued to rise.
The director-general said that human trafficking is currently rated as the second largest and most lucrative criminal enterprise globally after trafficking in small arms.
“This generates 150 billion US Dollars per annum, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
“From NAPTIP records, about 95 per cent of victims of human trafficking are young people below 35 years and mostly women and children,” she said.
Okah-Donli said that traffickers were recruiting their victims from vulnerable rural communities, taking them through hazardous terrains with promises of greener pastures abroad.
She called for the partnership of the traditional institution towards a nation-wide awareness against the violation of women, girls and children’s rights in the state.
She said that it had become necessary to mobilize indigenes of the state to be vigilant against the trafficking of young women to the West African countries for exploitation.
Responding, Nnaji said that he was shocked to hear that issues of human trafficking and its associated ills existed in such magnitude in the state.
Nnaji, who is the Vice Chairman, Enugu State Traditional Rulers Council, said that the traditional institution would be willing to partner with the agency to combat the scourge.
“It pains me that these awful practices exist in Enugu state. You should tell us the areas you want us to come in,” he said.
Nnaji said that his kingdom had since abolished all dehumanizing cultural practices against widows and women in general.
In addition, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has applauded Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, for his administration’s “giant developmental projects” in the state since its assumption of office in 2015.
NAPTIP also commended Gov. Ugwuanyi for “your recent consistent support for your frontline health workers to safeguard the lives of the citizens of Enugu State, to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
The body gave the commendations when the Director General (DG), Dame Julie Okah-Donli, led a delegation to the Government House, Enugu for the inauguration of the Enugu State Task Force on Human Trafficking, which was performed by Gov. Ugwuanyi.
Okah-Donli said that “it takes a man with strong vision and purpose to achieve these feats”.
The DG explained that NAPTIP as the focal agency in the fight against human trafficking in Nigeria, “is also the implementing agency for the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015, which Enugu State domesticated on 8th May 2019”.
She disclosed that 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 the State Attorney Generals, in order to consolidate the efforts of the agency and other stakeholders.
She therefore maintained that the state task forces on human trafficking have a pivotal role to play in ensuring adequate sensitization at the grassroots and among vulnerable groups, “providing services and support to victims who have been rescued and returned, as well as information sharing and law enforcement”.
Inaugurating the Enugu State Task Force, chaired by the State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Chief Miletus Eze, Gov. Ugwuanyi, who 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”, stated that it requires a mobilization comparable to the size of the phenomenon, in order to be eliminated.
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The governor 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.
Ugwuanyi appreciated the laudable efforts of NAPTIP and its brilliant move in reconstituting the state working groups into state task forces “to provide a platform to articulate and consolidate state governments’ policies and programmes to counter the terrible scourge of human trafficking”.
He therefore called for enhanced partnership among government institutions, the private sector, academic institutions, the media, civil society and the faith-based organizations, to eradicate trafficking and rehabilitate survivors.
Members of the state task force include Tochukwu, Emmanuel Anyanwuma (State Ministry of Justice); Mr. Chuka Umunna (Federal Ministry of Labour& Employment); Okenwa Uzoamaka Uzoechina (State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development); CSP Ezenwa Onyekaba (Nigeria Police Force); CIS Nneka Ilo
jeme (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).
Others are HRH Igwe Emmanuel Umunna (Representative of Traditional Institutions); Prof. Fred Eze, (OHANEZE) (Representative of Socio-Cultural Organizations); Ogbuefi Esther (Representative of Youths and Women Group); Ogbonna Ugochukwu (WACOL), Chinelo Dim (WINET), Comrade Elias Agu (CLO), Amara Amusi (DOVES Foundation) and Chinyere Mgbo (NAWOJ).