The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In
Persons (NAPTIP) and the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) have agreed
to work together to improve on the quality of empowerment provided to victims
of human trafficking and vulnerable persons in Nigeria.
This was the outcome of the courtesy visit to NAPTIP by the
NDE management team led by the Director-General Dr. Nasiru Ladan Mohammed. They
were received by the Director-General of NAPTIP, Julie Okah-Donli and her
management team.
While receiving them, the NAPTIP Director-General called for
a better partnership between the two organisations in order to provide the
needed assistance to vulnerable persons in the country as well as to the rescued
victims of human trafficking.
She used the opportunity to urge all poverty alleviation
organs of the Federal and State Governments to make conscious efforts to assist
government meet its obligations to the people.
She explained that many young Nigerian citizens who were
deceived with the promises of better opportunities outside Nigeria but got
exploited by their traffickers are at present stranded in different parts of
the world and finding it difficult to return home as they were not sure of
living a better life on return.
According to her, the National Directorate of Employment is
the Agency’s first port of call when it comes to empowering victims of human
trafficking upon completion of some form of skills acquisition. In her opinion,
the victims of human trafficking could be trained at the skills acquisition
centres operated by the NDE, and assisted in their empowerment to become
productive citizens. She also reiterated the need for the two organisations to
sign a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at assisting the victims’ empowerment.
‘’As government Agencies, we owe this administration a
responsibility of giving hope to the hopeless through partnership that would
endure. Victims of human trafficking suffer untold hardship in the hands of
their captors and we have to assure them of assistance when they return. They
need empowerment, care, support and protection and we are in a position to do
all these for them and also to place the image of Nigeria in a better
position’’, she stated.
Earlier in his remarks, the Director-General of NDE stated
that his vision for the Directorate is to get it back to its reputable status
through various innovations. He disclosed that the NDE has seventy four (74)
skills acquisition centres in the country; offices in all the thirty six states
of the federation, and six zonal offices. He said that NAPTIP and the victims
under its care could benefit from the services available.
While agreeing on the need for an MOU between the two
organisation, he expressed his organisation’s willingness to collaborate with
NAPTIP in creating awareness on illegal migration for labour exploitation,
stressing his optimism that the renewed partnership between the two
organisations will yield fruitful result.
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