COUNSELLING & REHABILITATION DEPARTMENT
Counselling and Rehabilitation department is one of the core departments in NAPTIP. The department, under section 9 subsection 3(a) and (b) of Trafficking in Persons Prohibition and law Enforcement Act 2003 as amended, is entrusted with the rehabilitation and counseling of victims of human trafficking. The department is headed by a seasoned social worker with over thirty-one years experience in social work practice. Presently, the staff strength of the department is one hundred and seven (107) with varying degrees of professional experience.
From inception of the Agency to Dec 2021 a total of seventeen thousand, two hundred and forty-two (17,242) victims have been referred to the department. Four thousand, five hundred and eighty-four (4,584) are male while twelve thousand, six hundred and fifty-eight (12,658) are female. One hundred and Ninety-One (191) of the trafficked persons assisted by the department were empowered to return to school or acquire vocational training. While additional five hundred and sixty-one (561) were further supported to establish their own businesses through the donation of trade equipment and provision of resettlement allowance to enable them cater for their personal needs.
The department collaborates with relevant government ministries, agencies, NGOs and development partners in realizing its mandate. It is divided into five sections/units and each has distinctive roles to play in realizing the mandate of the department. The sections are -:
The Programme Development Section
The functions of this section are: programme development, policy formulation and mainstreaming gender in the activities of the Agency.
Rehabilitation Section
Provides direct assistance to trafficked persons and this includes counseling and rehabilitation services. Vocational services provided to trafficked persons include knitting, weaving, fashion design, hair dressing, catering, hat making, beads making and photography.
Counselling methods adopted by the section in order to help the victims recover from trauma include psychosocial therapy, individual counseling, group counseling, career counseling, family counseling and case conferencing.
Shelter Management Section
Takes care of the day-to-day running of the shelter facilities established for housing rescued trafficked persons. Services offered at the shelter include feeding, clothing, provision of regular hygiene products, physical exercises, basic educational courses.
The Agency operates ten shelters across the country with the capacity to accommodate the following number of victims at a time.
|
S/N
|
LOCATION OF SHELTER
|
NUMBER OF BEDSPACE
|
|
1.
|
Abuja
|
38
|
|
2.
|
Lagos
|
60
|
|
3.
|
Benin
|
40
|
|
4.
|
Uyo
|
45
|
|
5.
|
Enugu
|
30
|
|
6.
|
Kano
|
30
|
|
7.
|
Sokoto
|
30
|
|
8.
|
Maiduguri
|
20
|
|
9.
|
Osogbo
|
16
|
|
10.
|
Makurdi
|
20
|
TOTAL: 329 This statistics is on capacity rate and not occupancy rate.
Please note that NAPTIP operates transit and closed shelters because of the peculiarity of the Agency. Length of stay is limited to 6 weeks. Any person needing a longer stay is referred to the shelters owned by collaborating NGOs.
NGO Section
They are responsible for coordinating the relationship between NAPTIP and NGO partners, both local and international, working in the area of rehabilitation and integration of victims of human trafficking. It collates, compiles and updates the directory of NGOs working in the area of human trafficking. It also pays serious attention to their authenticity and track record in addressing human trafficking issues.
Medical Unit
Responsible for the medicare of the victims and coordination of relationship with other health care service providers . Qualified nurses are attached to the eight mini-clinics of the Agency who renders first aid services and also makes referrals to other health care service providers where necessary.
Coordination Unit
Coordinates and documents all the activities of the department. It collates and disseminates information about the activities of the department and its staff. The unit also coordinates the monitoring and evaluation activities of the department.
Functions
Within the confines of the mandate of the Agency, the department of Counselling and Rehabilitation offers the following services to victims of human trafficking.
The department is guided by the underlisted documents in the pursuit of its functions and responsibilities to the victims. These documents evolved over the years in the practice of social work as it relates to the peculiarities inherent in the rehabilitation and integration of victims of human trafficking as well as in the course of interacting and working with local and international partners in the field of human trafficking. The documents are:
National Policy on Protection and Assistance to Trafficked Persons
The policy is a compendium of rehabilitation and re-integration processes and strategies and available opportunities for victims. It also contains the rights and privileges of the victims as well as responsibilities of government, departments and agencies in the welfare of victims. The policy has been approved by the National Executive Council of Nigeria, the highest decision making body of the country in 2008. Based on its relevance in assisting trafficked persons, in 2009, the ECOWAS adapted the policy as an instrument for the region (Assisted by IOM, UNICEF and UNIFEM)
Strategic Implementation Framework (SIF)
The Strategic Implementation Framework (SIF) is a roadmap for fast-tracking the implementation of the National Policy on Protection and Assistance to Trafficked Persons in Nigeria. The benefit of benchmarking are to improve the quality of services provided, set realistic performance targets, evolve innovative approach to operating and managing interventions and accelerate culture charge by making cooperating organizations accountable to the whole. It is a published document (Assisted by UNFPA)
Key Performance Indicators Guide
The Key Performance Indicators Guide (KPIG) serves as a guide for relevant stakeholders in monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the policy document. Monitoring and evaluation is presented here as a major tools for systematizing protection and assistance interventions and ensuring that intervention activities are appropriate and effective (Assisted by IOM).
Training Manual for Care Givers and Investigators
The development and production of the Training Manual is the joint effort of NAPTIP and UNICEF. The aim is to strengthen the professional capacity of all stakeholders engaged in training on trafficking in persons, especially investigators and care-givers. The aim is to bring investigators and care-givers together in the same environment to foster the desired professional collaboration needed to provide a holistic service to victims of trafficking. It will also influence the investigators to act as social workers while operating within the tradition of a law enforcer where victims are concerned.. This will foster human right approach and humanitarian perspective in the provision of services to victims of trafficking by law enforcement Agents. (Assisted by UNICEF)
Key concepts and ideas relevant to the professional development, growth and performance of care-givers and investigators were selected and developed into four sequential and mutually reinforcing modules by experts in the areas. Consequently, appropriate numbers of units were developed under each module.
Facilitators’ Guide on the Training Manual
Facilitators’ Guide on the Training Manual was developed to attend to the methodological component that will provide the framework for the acquisition of the necessary skills for the delivery of the content of the manual. It starts with an overview of methodology which provides details on training need assessment, statement of objective, institutional aids/resource required for training, delivery methods, strategies, techniques and evaluation of performance. The overview is then followed by a well laid out implementation plan. Both the training manual and the facilitator’s guide are restricted documents. (Assisted by UNICEF)
Guideline for Protection of Children in Formal Care
Guideline for Protection of Children in Formal Care is a document that strives to offer solutions to the issue of abuse and neglect of children in foster care by care givers. The issue of abuse and neglect becomes worrisome when the institutions meant for the protection of children are implicated in the abuse and/or neglect of children. The need to address this phenomenon nationally is therefore urgent and imperative to all concerned individuals and institutions. Thus, the Agency in collaboration with UNICEF and other stakeholders decided to put in place a formidable structure that could guarantee the rights, safety and well-being of children in formal care institutions in Nigeria.
Strictly guided by the above mentioned documents, the department has implemented several programmes to the benefit of trafficked persons. The attached are few of the projects/programmes implemented in collaboration with various development partners and other stakeholders to improve the socio-economic and psychological status of victims of human trafficking.
Contact Person: Angela Agbayekhai
Email: angela@naptip.gov.ng
Telephone: +2348033117153