Hope of Improved Fiscal Allocation to NAPTIP Brightens as House of Rep Committee on Human Rights Commends the Agency for An Effective Tackling of TIP in Nigeria
Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Prof Fatima Waziri–Azi, today Thursday 14th December 2023, led other Management Staff of the Agency to the 2024 Budget defense before the House of Representatives Committee on Human Rights.
Speaking before the presentation, the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Abiola Peter Makinde, lauded the efforts of the Prof. Fatima Waziri–Azi–led administration for its numerous achievements and the implementation of the various counter-trafficking policies and programme which had culminated in the conviction of several traffickers in the Country.
The Chairman said, “I must commend the work you are doing. I have seen the data of the convictions you secured. Our members are very interested in your Agency because you are doing well and this is also a gender-sensitive Agency of Government. NAPTIP is one of the Active Agencies in the Country and in line with the statutory requirement, the yearly budget appropriation, 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”, the Chairman said.
In her presentation, the Director General took the Honourable members through the establishment, mandates, national spread, policy implementation, and the activities of the Agency since its inception and pointed out that it had secured a total of 641 convictions and has offices in 32 states of the federation.
She told the Parliament that “NAPTIP is the only Agency with enforcement, prosecutorial and protection mandates towards its target beneficiaries, that is victims of human trafficking and sexual and gender-based violence.
“As part of the prosecutorial mandate of the Agency, last year, we secured 80 convictions and in 2023, the Agency has already secured 63 convictions and counting including the conviction of a high-profile trafficker that trafficked 12 girls to Belgium and the conviction of a Lebanese foreign national.
“Due to the enhanced visibility of the Agency and increased trust in NAPTIP as a government institution, reportage has doubled in the past 2 years than ever has in the past 20 years in addition to the evolving trends and patterns in human trafficking, this has caused serious strain on our human and financial resources.
“In 2022, the Agency received 1, 462 human trafficking complaints, 31 percent from the number received in 2021.
Honourable Members, you may wish to note that the challenges confronting NAPTIP are enormous and this is worsened by the upsurge in the trafficking of persons across the World.
“As of today, every state in Nigeria is affected by human trafficking and the scale of this crime is indeed alarming. We are at war, human traffickers are ruthless and good at hiding”, the Director General told the Lawmakers.
She assured that the Agency shall continue to double its efforts to outsmart the traffickers and ensure the safety of Nigerians from all forms of trafficking and exploitation.
It would be recalled that the Director General, had last week, appeared before the Senate Committee on Human Rights on the same mission and was unanimously commended.
Adekoye Vincent
Press Officer
14th December, 2023
