NAPTIP Convicts 599 human traffickers in Nigeria since 2004






By Editor


April 24, 2023



The National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) says it has secured conviction of 599 human traffickers since 2004.

Barrister Nduka Nwawenne, Benin Zonal Commander of the agency disclosed this at the Uromi Justice Development Peace and Caritas Initiative (Uromi JDPCI) consultative workshop with judges and magistrates in Benin City.

The convicts, Nwawenne said had been sentenced to various prisons terms in the country.

The consultative workshop was on the operationalization of the Victims of Trafficking Trust Fund (VTTF) in Edo State.

The zonal commander recalled that NAPTIP's first conviction was recorded in the Edo State High Court I, where the convict was sentenced to three year imprisonment in a judgment delivered on Friday, November 19, 2004 by the then Chief Judge of the state, Hon Constance Momoh.

He noted that the agency recorded 80 convictions in 2022 making it the highest number of yearly convictions in the country.

Twenty-seven convictions, he claimed had been secured by the agency as of March 31, 2023.

The NAPTIP boss, however, opined that there was a need to strengthen victims protection, by making the victims of trafficking trust fund more operational so as to enhance the assistance and protection to victims of human trafficking in Edo State.

According to him, the provisions of the trust funds are supposed to be an effective counterpoise in the rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of human trafficking.

"However, both in the Edo state law and in the national law, the funds has not been effective, even though at the Federal level, a committee existed to attract and manage the funds", he said.

While noting that the Edo State TaskForce on Human Trafficking recorded its first convictions in 2021, he added that is making appreciable progress in bringing other human traffickers to book.

Earlier in his opening remarks, Very Reverend Father Fidelis Arhedo, executive director, Uromi JPDCI said the workshop was to mobilize relevant stakeholders and galvanize actions towards the activation of victims of trafficking trust fund as contained in the Edo Traffic in Persons Prohibition law 2018.

He also added that the workshop was to call for the establishment of Victims of trafficking trust fund committee as also stipulated under section 67 and 68 of the Edo Traffic in Persons Prohibition law in 2018.

He, however, solicited the support of the judiciary, NAPTIP and other stakeholders' in the fight against human trafficking to ensure that compensation are being paid to victims of human trafficking.

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