Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, has urged the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to ensure domestication of the Act in all states.
Farouq gave the advice when the Director-General of NAPTIP, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim paid her a courtesy visit in Abuja on Monday.
She said NAPTIP should focus on the domestication of Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act (TIPPEA), 2015 and Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP), 2015 in all states of the federation.
According to Farouq, focusing on the domestication will ease some of the problems currently faced by NAPTIP in the implementation of key interventions and programmes.
“I urge you to make use of data systems to create programmes and align them with the ministry’s policies to ensure effective multi-sectoral participation in the realisation of the core mandate of NAPTIP,” she said.
The minister pledged Federal Government’s continued provision, support and commitment to the Anti-Human Trafficking cause.
Farouq also urged Sulaiman-Ibrahim to build on previous successes and strategic relationships to ensure collaborative and transformational approach to stemming human trafficking and domestic violence in Nigeria.
Speaking earlier, the director-general thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for the confidence reposed on her to pilot the affairs of NAPTIP.
Sulaiman-Ibrahim stated that in spite of the strides of success recorded by the agency in the past, there was still much to be done.
“NAPTIP is fully committed to the prevention of all forms of human degradation and exploitation through the coordinated use of the nation’s crime prevention and law enforcement resources.
“We are also committed to liberate and uplift the vulnerable, especially women, children and youths from dehumanising and exploitative employment.
“This can be done through the deployment of the Five Ps Approach such as policy development, prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnering with stakeholders to ensure their rehabilitation and effective reintegration of victims into the society,” Sulaiman-Ibrahim said.
She said from inception till date, the agency had investigated over ten thousand cases of human trafficking, rescued over 15,000 victims of human trafficking and prosecuted close to five hundred perpetrators.
She also enumerated operational and administrative challenges hindering the growth and development of the agency while also presenting two policy documents to be presented to the Federal Executive Council for approval and adoption.
The documents included, National Policy for the Protection and Assistance to Trafficked Persons, and Protocol on Identification, Safe Return and Rehabilitation of Trafficked Persons.
According to her, the documents if approved will help to provide victims of trafficking with assistance.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Malam Basheer Alkali, the Director Humanitarian Affairs, Alhaji Ali Grema and other management staff of the ministry and NAPTIP were in audience (NAN)