Gbenro Adesina
The Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dame Julie Okah-Donli, today stated that in the last 16 year, the agency has rescued 2,884 indigenes of Lagos State from traffickers.
Okah-Donli, who stated this at the State House, Ikeja during the inauguration of the Lagos State Task Force on Human Trafficking said that the agency rescued 1,535 Lagos State indigenes by NAPTIP and her partners between 2004 and July 2020.
She added that International Organisation for Migration (IOM) returned 1,349 indigenes of the state from various parts of the world stressing that no state in Nigeria was speared by irregular migration and human trafficking.
According to her, “From 2004 to July 2020, a total of 1,535 indigenes of Lagos State have 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. These victims were mostly subjected to child labour, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation. Significantly, between 2017 and 2020, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) returned 1,349 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”.
Okah-Donli explained that in 2020, the agency rescued 18 Lagosians, comprising 16 females and two males pointing out more worrisome was the trafficking of young Nigerian women to the Middle East, especially Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE.
The NAPTIP boss said that between March and August 2020, NAPTIP facilitated the repatriation of 355 young women from domestic and sexual slavery in Lebanon, out of whom, six were indigenes of Lagos state, while 42 others were resident in Lagos.
She said that the problem of human trafficking and irregular migration had become of great national concern especially with the large number of Nigerians trapped in sexual and labour exploitation in various African and European countries.
Revealing that in December 2018, NAPTIP undertook a Fact-Finding Mission to Mali, Okah-Donli said, “The report of the mission painted a very gory picture of more than 20,000 young Nigerian girls who are victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in bush camps around Mali’s mine fields. In the first week of March 2019, I personally followed up with a visit to Mali and my worst fears were confirmed. Human Trafficking represents a clear and present danger to human and national security which must be addressed boldly and frontally”.
