NAPTIP boss wants foreign based traffickers stopped

Okah-Donli

The Director-General of the National Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP) Julie Okah-Donli, has disclosed that one of the surest ways to check human trafficking is to first decimate foreign based traffickers.

Okah-Donli, who said that foreign-based human trafficking rings and mafia constitute major threat to the global anti-human trafficking fight, tasked members of the European Union and other international organisations to provide useful intelligence on the operations base and location of the human trafficking “lords” for the purpose of bursting their rings.

Okah-Donli stated this while playing host to a delegation from the Spanish embassy who were at the NAPTIP headquarters to brief the management on the scope and the implementation strategy of the 11^th European Development Fund project, (EDF).

The team was led by Mr. Raphael Mouib. Okah-Donli also preached the same message when she received the Director, Migration Dialogues and cooperation of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) Martijn Pluim. She also met with the Police Attaches of the Embassies of Germany, Mr. Muller and the Embassy of the Netherlands, Captain Bert Kiburg.

Okah-Donli told the visiting envoys that blowing the lid off the European-based human trafficking barons who have continuously mounted pressure on their home-based pimps for massive recruitment of victims, would be a major boost to the current onslaught on human traffickers.

Okah-Donli said: “The arrest and prosecution of those human traffickers that are based in any of the European countries is very crucial to our latest efforts to end human trafficking in Nigeria. We are imploring you to join hands with the Government of Nigeria and precisely NAPTIP in the area of intelligence sharing aimed at exposing those foreign based human trafficking “madams “ who are believed to be behind the exploitation of our youths.

“We want them to be exposed and made to face the wrath of the law. This is one of the ways of ensuring success of the latest fight against human trafficking.”

While assuring the donors of NAPTIP continued cooperation and unhindered assistance towards human trafficking related projects, the NAPTIP boss disclosed that the Agency was in the process of developing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will clearly spell out the procedure for the implementation of a Spanish sponsored project.  

Earlier in his presentation, leader of the visiting envoys, Mr. Raphael Mouib, had informed the NAPTIP management of plans to commence the implementation of the 11^th European Development Fund (EDF) project which was designed to address some of the human trafficking issues in the country.

The main objective of the project is to reduce trafficking in persons (TIP) and smuggling of migrants (SOM) at national and regional level, and between Nigeria and the European Union (EU) continues with specific emphasis on women and children.