8th September, 2020
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on Tuesday disclosed that 2,884 indigenes of Lagos State have been rescued by the body.
Director General, NAPTIP, Julie Okah-Donli disclosed this at the State House, Lagos at the launch of State Task Force on Human Trafficking by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
She said the challenges ahead were quite enormous, and that new initiatives must be developed for ensuring adequate resources for the rehabilitation of returnee victims of Human Trafficking and Irregular Migration in order to mitigate the phenomenon of re-trafficking.
“Bigger and adequately equipped shelters, vocational training facilities and scholarships must be in place if we are going to provide appropriate economic empowerment for these victims as well as empowerment programmes for the rural women who are the mothers of potential victims,” she said.
According to her, almost all States in Nigeria were affected by irregular migration and Human Trafficking but that Lagos State is endemic for trafficking of children and adults for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation in brothels, street begging and street trading, as well as other forms of exploitation because of the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos.
Okah-Donli revealed that from 2004 to July 2020, a total of 1,535 indigenes of Lagos State had been rescued by NAPTIP and her partners, consisting of 1,324 females and 211 males, mostly from Ikorodu, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Agege, Alimosho, Eti-Osa, Epe and Badagry Local Government Areas.
She said these victims were mostly subjected to child labour, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.
“Significantly, between 2017 and 2020, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) returned 1349 indigenes of Lagos from various parts of the world, especially Libya, Mali, Niger and parts of Europe. This comprised 1,180 females and 169 males,” she said.
Okah-Donli further disclosed that this year alone, despite the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, NAPTIP rescued 18 indigenes of Lagos State from traffickers, which comprises 16 female and 2 male.
“Another worrying trend is the trafficking of young Nigerian women to the Middle East, especially Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE. Between March and August 2020, NAPTIP with the collaboration of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigerian Embassy in Lebanon, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Diaspora Commission, National Emergency Management Agency and IOM facilitated the repatriation 355 young women from domestic and sexual servitude in Lebanon, out of whom, 6 were indigenes of Lagos State, while 42 others are resident in Lagos.,” she said.
Okah-Donli added that NAPTIP had established State Task Forces in Delta, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Borno, Rivers, Cross River and Akwa-Ibom State.
“We also established the first local government Task Force in the Agege Local Area of Lagos State, July 2019. We are here today to witness the inauguration of the Lagos State Task Force,” she said.
However, Chairman of the State’s Task Force on Human Trafficking is the Lagos Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyo Onigbanjo.