 |
| Godwin Morka of NAPTIP, Jensen and Famakin |
The National Agency for the Prohibition of
Trafficking in Persons and other related matter, (NAPTIP), Lagos State Zonal
Command, yesterday said it has ensured that 217 traffickers were jailed and
over 885 girls rescued.
Speaking yesterday at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja,
during the Anti-trafficking casework specialized training for Investigators and
Prosecutors of NAPTIP, the Lagos Zonal Commander, Joseph Famakin, said the
agency was making success in the fight against human trafficking and rescuing
of victims.
According to him, presently, 217 persons have been
jailed for trafficking, with 58 cases pending in Federal and state high courts.
He added that seven cases were at appeal court, while two are in Supreme Court.
Famakin said in 2014, 316 girls were rescued, while
in 2015, 417 girls were rescued and this 2016, from January to May, 152 had
been rescued.
He said that the law on human trafficking has been enhanced
and amended in 2015, adding that the law is now stringent, with many of the
offences void of fine.
He added: “Trafficking is the most profitable crime,
coming after arm smuggling and drug trafficking. Traffickers are known to the
victims. The traffickers present themselves as messiahs to the victims, but we
are doing a lot of advocacy work and enlightenment. It’s our responsibility to
rescue trafficked victims.
Mr. Mikael Blonquist Jensen of United Nation Office
on Drug and Crime, who is the project coordinator of Trafficking in Person and
Smuggling of Migrants, said: “The training is for NAPTIP investigators and
prosecutors. It’s the second round we are doing. We did one four months ago in
Enugu and this is the advance course. The project is sponsored by government of
Japan. It’s a drastic response to NAPTIP. It’s an EU funded project that has
been running for the past five years.”
The training of NAPTIP investigators and prosecutors,
which started yesterday, will end on Friday.
Jensen who had been a policeman in his country for
over 24 years, said that he hoped to share his experience and knowledge in human
trafficking, so that it would be beneficial to the trainees.
He added: “Human trafficking is a crime against
human right dignity. We want to share our 24 years of policing in Europe. We want
to share practical experiences to fight trafficking in Nigeria. Human trafficking
is a concern for Japan government and European Union, thus this project. Japan supports
such projects because human trafficking is outrageous. If the government is
able to save one or two persons in the course of such training, then, it is worth
it. Human lives are priceless. We hope that the investigators and prosecutors
will spread the knowledge gathered in the training to others.”
No comments:
Post a Comment