The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has declared that human trafficking was directly threatening national security and public safety by fueling organised crimes.
NAPTIP Director-General (DG), Hajiya Binta Adamu-Bello, made the remarks in Dutse at the launch of a programme aimed at supporting and empowering women and children from Jigawa State who are engaged in street begging across Nigeria.
The programme is being implemented by Hamadan Kasiran Orphan, Vulnerable and Children OVC Foundation, in collaboration with the Children Education Support Initiative in Arewa (CESIA), championed by the wife of Jigawa State Governor, Hajiya Amina Namadi
The initiative seeks to provide opportunities and support to help them improve their lives and break the cycle of poverty.
”Child beggars are highly vulnerable to human trafficking, as a sizable number of them are exploited, their organs harvested or even used in armed conflict,” she said.
Adamu-Bello, represented by the agency’s Commander in the state, Abdulkadir Turajo, said NAPTIP, established in 2003, is the only focal agency fighting human trafficking and other related exploitation across the country.
According to her, reports and findings indicate a high prevalence of recruitment that is daily transported from rural to urban areas and across the borders into terrorism, armed conflict , prostitution and hazardous labour.
Adamu-Bello, described human trafficking as one of the world’s most threats to national security and public safety.
”It fuels public sector corruption, irregular migration, undermines human capital development potentials, causes social breakdown and exclusion, dearth of capable manpower, human degradation, abuse of human rights, spread of diseases, tarnishes national image and other associated financial crimes,” she said.
She decried that trafficking in person has re-emerged in recent times as a modern form of slavery.
She said the recruitment, transportation, within or across borders, purchase, sale, transfer and harboring of persons, involving the use of deception, coercive or debt bondage for the purpose of placing or holding a person in forced or bonded labor, prostitution or in slavery like conditions like begging, is a crime.
“The law recognises this serious violation of children rights, and under the trafficking in persons prohibition enforcement and administration Act, 2015 in Sections 13,15,19 and 20and prescribes a minimum punishment without an option of fine of not less than seven years imprisonment for offenders,” she said.
Adamu-Bello said the agency recently rescued 13 female victims in Maiduguri, who were trafficked from Babura town in Jigawa State for forced labour and begging.
“NAPTIP Jigawa State Command successfully rescued and reunited 221 victims with their families since its establishment in 2023,” she said.
She reiterated the agency’s commitment to working with its partners to identify and support victims, while also addressing the root causes of the menace.
“I commend the Hamdan Kasiran OVC Foundation and Children Education support Initiative for their dedication to this cause. Let’s work together to ensure that children and vulnerable populations are protected, empowered and given the opportunities they deserve,” she added.
She called for more community awareness programmes on the dangers associated with begging through engagement of religious and traditional institutions in the state.
