ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Zonal Coordinator, National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), Nduka Nwanwenne, has said the Federal Government has secured 500 convictions of human traffickers since its establishment.
He said that despite the fact that Nigeria during the establisment of NAPTIP was low in organised crimes, the agency started with one conviction in 2004 and had had over 500 convictions up until now.
Nwanwenne, who made this known during a call on the Chairman of the State Gender Response Initiative Team, Dise Ogbise, in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, stressed that the issue of trafficking in persons for any purpose was not an isolated problem to Bayelsa or Nigeria.
He said it was a global problem and therefore there was the need for collaboration with different stakeholders such as GRIT, security agencies, traditional and religious leaders.
Nwanwenne, who is in charge of Bayelsa, Delta and Edo states, was accompanied on the visit by Bayelsa State Commander, Mrs. Abieyuwa Ehidenro, Head of Operations, Daniel Ibe and the PRO Wariebi Sambo.
She pointed out that building collaboration was enshrined in the law that established the agency.
She said Nigeria in 2003 signed the transnational organised crime protocols, stressing the importance of NAPTIP as an agency of the Federal Government response to addressing the scourge of trafficking in persons.
He noted that NAPTIP was both an enforcement and welfare agency that enforces the law and also supports victim to be reintegrated into the society through capacity building.
He highlighted the agency’s thematic areas as prevention, protection, prosecution and participation.
He added that his team would be delighted to collaborate with GRIT in the areas to ensure that traffic in persons was minimised in the state as humans are priceless and not commodities that should be purchased or resold.
He applauded GRIT for what it had been doing in promoting the rights of vulnerable groups and help survivors get justice, declaring that he had been following up with GRIT activities which are closely related to the mandate of NAPTIP.
He also informed the GRIT that Bayelsa NAPTIP task force would be inaugurated in the state very soon, stressing that the committee would work to strengthen sensitisation and awareness creation, arrest and provide safe home.
He added that his team would be delighted to collaborate with GRIT in the areas to ensure that traffic in persons was minimised in the state as humans are priceless and not commodities that should be purchased and or resold.
The Secretary of GRIT, Inatimi Odio, welcomed the NAPTIP team to GRIT office and assured them of GRIT’s readiness to collaborate with them in curbing organised crimes.
In her response, the Chairman of GRIT, Barrister Dise Ogbise informed the NAPTIP team that the GRIT was put together by the First Lady of the State, Dr. Gloria Diri and was inaugurated in September 2021 by Governor Douye Diri.