The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTiP) has received praise from the House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights for its successful efforts to combat trafficking in persons (TIP).According to a statement released by the agency's press officer in Abuja on Saturday, the committee chairman, Abiola Makinde, offered the commendation on Thursday during the defense of the 2024 budget.
Makinde praised Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, the Director-General of NAPTIP, for her many accomplishments and the execution of the different counter-trafficking programs, the statement continued.He claimed to have seen the statistics of the convictions the agency had obtained and that the D-G's actions had resulted in the conviction of several traffickers across the nation.
Because your agency is performing well and is a gender-sensitive government agency, our members are particularly interested in it. One of the nation's operational agencies is NAPTIP.
Makinde stated, "It is expected that you and your team appear before this committee to tell us what you have done with the 2023 budget and also to defend your 2024 appropriation, in line with the statutory requirements for the yearly budget appropriation."
Additionally, the statement revealed that NAPTIP D-G walked the committee members through the agency's founding mandates, national outreach, policy implementation, and operations since its founding.
The head of NAPTIP noted that the organization had offices in 32 federation states and had obtained 641 convictions.
"The victims of human trafficking and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) are the target beneficiaries of NAPTIP, and it is the sole organization with enforcement, prosecuting, and protection mandates towards them.
"In accordance with the agency's prosecution mandates, we were able to secure 80 convictions last year, and as of 2023, we have already secured 63 convictions and counting.
"This judgment includes the conviction of a foreign national from Lebanon and the well-known trafficker who brought 12 girls to Belgium.
"In addition to the changing trends and patterns in human trafficking, reportage has doubled in the past two years than it has ever done in the past 20 years due to the agency's greater visibility and the public's growing trust in NAPTIP as a government organization.
Our financial and personnel resources have been severely strained as a result of this, she said.
According to the D-G, the agency received 1, 462 complaints of human trafficking in 2022—a 31% increase over 2021.
The speaker highlighted that NAPTIP is facing significant obstacles, which are made worse by the global spike in human trafficking.
She claims that human trafficking affects every state in Nigeria and that the scope of this crime is quite concerning.
She declared that the organization was engaged in a state of war, stressing the cunning and brutality of people traffickers.
Waziri-Azi gave the lawmakers her word that the organization would keep working twice as hard to outsmart the traffickers and protect Nigerians from exploitation and all types of human trafficking.
The statement revealed that NAPTIP D-G had testified before the Senate Committee on Human Rights one week prior, addressing the same objective, and had received unanimous praise.