Northcentral Govt, Agency, Partner To Curb Rising Human Trafficking cases
Benue state, Northcentral Nigeria Governor has partnered with NAPTIP to fight human trafficking in the state.
Simon Lalong, Governor of Plateau State, North-central Nigeria says the government would enlist the National Agency For The Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) in fighting human trafficking in the state.
According to a statement by his media aide on Wednesday, Lalong made this known during a meeting with Imaan Sulayman-Ibrahim, the new Director-General of NAPTIP at the governor’s lodge in Abuja on Tuesday.
Pledging his support for eradicating human trafficking in the state, the governor, granted Ibrahim’s land request upon which a NAPTIP complex is to be established.
He expressed concern over the rate of trafficking persons, especially women and girls at Mikang, a local government area in Plateau State.
“Trafficking in girls was reported in Mikang Local Government Area, where young girls were taken out of the state in December 2020,” the governor was quoted as said.
“Some government officials sent to investigate the matter were attacked by the parents of the girls, who said they allowed their children to be trafficked to alleviate their hardship and give them better lives.”
Globally, human trafficking is an organised crime that is growing to a $150 billion industry with women and girls accounting for the two-third of the figure generated, according to the United Nations.
In 2003 when Nigeria first recorded the cases of human trafficking, the country ratified the Trafficking in Person and Child’s Right Acts to combat trafficking women and girls, most especially against exploitation and other abuses.
In 2015, the country’s former president, Goodluck Jonathan, passed the Violence Against Person Prohibition (VAPP) Act.
The VAPP provides protection for women and girls against all forms of violence.
Only 18 states, out of the 36 states of Nigeria have domesticated the VAPP Act since its enactment in 2015.
Lalong was the first governor from northern Nigeria to domesticate the Child Rights Act and the VAPP Act.
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