NAPTIP DG, Julie Okah-Donli

By Muhaimin Olowoporoku

Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River States this week inaugurated a task force team in order to check and curb human trafficking activities from these states to neighboring countries.

Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dame Julie Okah-Donli revealed this on Friday.

She thanked governors of the three states for their warm reception as the task force on Human Trafficking where inaugurated.

The inauguration of the task force in Rivers saw the governor of the state, Nyesom Wike reiterating his administration’s commitment to eradicating human trafficking.

Represented by the Deputy Governor, Ipalibo Harry Banigo, Wike urged the task force to probe human trafficking issues, stressing why it is important to share information and extend partnership to end child trafficking.

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Also in Cross River, during the task force inauguration, the state governor, Ben Ayade represented by his deputy, Prof. Iyara Esu, urged the task force to come up with modalities on how to check the scourge.

The governor also revealed that human trafficking is a problem owing to unemployment as his government is trying to tackle the problem from its root by solving the challenge of joblessness.

Governor Ayade charged the members of the task force to put in their best adding that whatever they require for the success of their work would be provided by the state government.

After the inauguration in the three states, NAPTIP DG prayed that the task force in all three states works hard to end the menace.

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She also thanked IOM, the UN migration agency for supporting the project. Okah-Donli said that without the support of the organization and its chief of mission, Franz Celestine, the inauguration would have been impossible and believes that all together they can ensure Nigeria becomes a Human Trafficking and violence-free nation.