1,079 victims of human trafficking, GBV seek justice through sexual referral centre--- says NCD

Nov 30, 2022

By Editor

The New Apostolic Centre for Development (NCD), a humanitarian arm of the New Apostolic Church said no fewer than 1,079 persons had reported cases of human trafficking and gender based violence to the Edo State Sexual Assault Referral Centre, otherwise known as Vivian Centre to seek for justice.

Mr Victor Oriakhi, board member of the Benin City based non-governmental organisation, said the figures was occasioned by the  body's  implementation's of  the Agents for Transformation programme project funded by the European Union in the state.

Oriakhi made the disclosure in Benin City while briefing the press at the end of a town hall meeting and training of participants on the awareness and danger of trafficking in persons and improved response to sexual and gender based violence in the state.

He disclosed that before the implementation of the programme which commenced in June, about 600 victims of the societal menace had  approached  the Edo State Sexual Assault Referral Centre to seek for justice.

DailyMonitorngr reports that the figure, according to him, however, increased to 1079 as of November 24.

The board member, who attributed the increase of the number of victims accessing the state Sexual Assault Referral Centre to its implementation of the EU funded project noted that the high figures indicated that the training and public awareness initiatives got to the target audience.

He added  that some victims said they knew the centre through a Radio programme being sponsored by the NCD.

Oriakhi disclosed  that since June, the NCD had handled two cases, one of which was referred to the Vivian Centre while the other was referred to the Edo State Ministry of Justice.

According to him, NCD training and extensive public awareness activities have led to more citizens accessing the Edo State Sexual Referral Centre (Vivian Centre) to report Gender Based Violence cases.

"Record obtained from the Vivian centre showed that the centre recorded more cases between June and November, 2022 when NCD  implemented the prevention of human trafficking and response to gender based violence in Edo State.

"As at the time the project commenced in June, 2022, the centre had received only about 600 cases since inception. 

"But by November 24, 2022,the number of cases reported to the  centre increased to 1,079 and some of the victims confirmed that they knew about the centre from the Radio programme sponsored by NCD.

"As we speak, NCD's radio jingle is still running on KU FM, Benin city between 7:56 am and 4:56 pm daily, and it will be till about early January 2023", he said.

While noting that the European Union funded programme was implemented by the British Council in Nigeria, added that the body's anti-trafficking and Gender based violence response messages have reached millions of people in Edo State and other part of the world.

Oriakhi further explained that the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has also confirmed that it now receives more cases in their office on a daily basis due to increased awareness on issues of human trafficking through NCD's programme and that of other stakeholders.

The NCD board member, who promised that the centre will continue to work agencies and other organizations to advance work on preventing human trafficking and responding to gender based violence, said  a desk office has been set up to handle sexual and gender based violence referral issues in the state.

He, however, commended the British Council for making it possible for NCD to receive mentorship and funding through the Agents for Citizen-Driven Transformation  programme as well as the European Union for providing  the resources to fund the EU-ACT project in the state.