At a two-day Capacity Building Workshop for School Counsellors and Principals in Public Schools in the Federal Capital Territory, (FCT), organised by NAPTIP in partnership with Ford Foundation, Director General NAPTIP, Professor Fatima Waziri-Azi, said there has been increased reports from schools on cases of violence against children hence the trading is essential for the protection of school children.
Professor Waziri-Azi notes that “Last year we did the first training which was the first in seven or eight years and we got very positive feedback and we also saw the impact on the number of reportage from the schools so we made a management decision that this is a capacity workshop we will hold every year.”
She said apart from being an enforcement agency on issues of human trafficking in Nigeria, NAPTIP also has the mandate to drive and implement the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, (VAPPA), in the FCT, in the public and private space. “It provides the legal protection of persons from all forms of violence including domestic and sexual violence in both public and private space. The Act cover women, men, boys and girls,” “Due to the strategic roles you play as Principals and Counsellors, we felt that it is important to you to understand the details of the work we do, our role is to reduce and control incidences of human trafficking in Nigeria,” she said.
She adds that “What we want to achieve is to enhance further the capacity of school teachers, principals and Counsellors by opening their eyes to these issues, making them understand that issues of violence against persons, human trafficking happens in and outside schools, how they can recognise the red flags and also knowing what the referral offices are and also the reporting channels.” Chairman, FCT, Universal Basic Education Board, (UBEB), Professor Abdullah Mohammed, explained that in cases of violence and child abuse or violation observed in schools among the pupils, the established channel for reporting is for the teachers and counsellor to report the issue immediately to the school principal who in turn reports to UBEB for necessary action through NAPTIP.
Represented by the Deputy Director Placement and Gender Unit department of Junior Secondary Schools, (JSS), FCT, Mrs.
Tapiauida Safiya, he said all bureaucratic bottle necks have been done away with to ensure prompt action is taken in such cases