NAPTIP Wages War Against Human Trafficking
By Tobs Agbaegbu, Abuja bureau chief
Monday, October 15, 2007
Since its establishment in 2003, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters, NAPTIP, has been involved in battles and campaigns against promoters of the illegal business. The result has been very good
The stories about those involved in the illegal business are shocking and seemingly unbelievable. But they are true accounts of the travails of many children, women and adults. The traffickers are daring but the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters, NAPTIP, is unrelenting in its resolve to end the trade which has brought Nigeria shame.
Sarah Okoya, a Nigerian resident in Edo State had in 2004, arranged for some girls to be transported from Uromi, to Spain where they were to be employed in a salon and shop which she said belonged to her. The girls were, instead, introduced to prostitution when they got to Spain.
Disappointed and displeased with what they were asked to do, the girls reported to the manager of the hotel where they were lodged for the sex business. The manager in turn took them to the Nigerian Embassy and they were subsequently repatriated.
On her return to Nigeria, and upon apprehension, Okoya was arrainged by NAPTIP through the attorney-general of the Federation, on an 18-count charge at the Edo High Court on August 8, 2004. When judgment was given on November 19, 2004, she was found guilty on all the counts and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment on each count, to run concurrently, without any option of fine. Okoya ended up, as one of the early victims of the raging battle against human trafficking in Nigeria being spearheaded by NAPTIP under the leadership of Carol Ndaguba, executive secretary.
Before Okoya was another case involving one Chioma Ogbonna, a lady who made a failed attempt to sell a child of a man with whoms he was involved in illicit love affair. She took the victim to Aba, in Abia State from where they boarded a vehicle that took them through Oron, to Uyo, capital of Akwa Ibom State. She hoped to make a brisk business because there was a booming market for children in the state.
Ogbonna was arrested in Uyo when she was approached by a social worker who posed as a potential buyer of the victim at, an agreed sum of N400,000. The illegal deal earned her, a sentence of two years imprisonment when judgement was given against her at the High Court of Justice, Uyo, on February 22, 2006.
Another case of trafficking in human beings involving one Franka Asiboja in Benin is perhaps one of the worst aspects of the rising cases of human trafficking business in Nigeria. She was a victim but she later turned to embrace the business as a dealer.
In May 2005, Asiboja recruited girls, with the help of an agent in Nigeria, for prostitution in Burkina Faso. Luck ran out of her and she was apprehended by law enforcement agencies acting on behalf of NAPTIP. She was subsequently sentenced to five years imprisonment on each of the three count charges preferred against her, when a high court in Benin, gave its ruling on the matter, on June 3, 2005.
In spite of the harsh punishment being meted out to Nigerians involved in the illegal business of trafficking in human beings, the business is still thriving in many parts of Nigeria. And the traders have devised various methods of evading the law.
Ndaguba confirmed that the problem is even getting worse. She explained: "It is a Herculean task bringing traffickers to book. We found out so far that there are different forms of trafficking. The most popular then was trafficking for sexual exploitation in Europe. We have now discovered that much more things are happening. What goes on within Nigeria presently is worse than what goes on outside the country. What we have is nothing but trafficking, trafficking and trafficking."
Children appear to be the most vulnerable group. Apart from the known practice of kidnapping for sale and the use of children for street trading and hard domestic work, many children are now being trafficked for exploitation in plantation farms outside their places of origin. "As a child, they get you to work in plantations, the child is just exploited like in the slave trade days, and they get nothing in return," Ndaguba said.
The worst of the problem is that not many of the children who are being trafficked outside the country get to their proposed destination. Many are known to have either died in transit, due to the brutality inflicted on them by their masters. Some of them are dumped into the high seas. Ndaguba narrates the experience of NAPTIP: "a number of the children are shipped out of the country from the eastern axis, like Akwa Ibom and Cross River states. From the borders of these states, they are shipped to such places as Cameroon and Gabon. Terrible things happen in this kind of business.You know they take them out in boats. When the law enforcement officers go after them in the high seas, they throw the children into the seas and ocean, just to destroy evidence. It is horrible."
But NAPTIP is returning fire-for-fire in its war against the traffickers. Ndaguba said her organisation is alive to its responsibility and is indeed winning the war. She gave the statistics of progress made so far. "We have arrested more than 150 traffickers. We also have a lot of investigations going on. We have so far convicted 12 traffickers who are in jail right now .We also have over 50 cases in court now. We have indeed made a lot of progress in this direction," she said.
In its effort to execute its mandate, NAPTIP has also taken up the problem of the welfare of victims of the crime. Many have either been rehabilitated and returned to their place of origin or are currently undergoing various forms of rehabilitation.
To facilitate the operations of NAPTIP and its work of rehabilitation, Ndaguba explained that six regional offices have been established in Benin, Lagos. Sokoto, Kano, Enugu and Uyo, in addition to the headquarters in Abuja. Each of the zones has a rehabilitation centre attached to it. In Abuja, the NAPTIP rehabilitation centre is cited in Gwarimpa and currently houses about 58 victims.
In all the six rehabilitation zones over 500 victims are involved. The increasing number of the victims, who are being sheltered, fed and rehabilitated calls for more funds. The funds are needed to enable the agency operate at full capacity. Ndaguba explained: "It is a very expensive project to run and that is why we are making a case for proper and commensurate budgeting case for the agency. Don't forget that it is also a strategy for poverty alleviation. We need money, we need every support we can get from all governments in the country, the corporate bodies, the private sector and even individuals."
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