Anambra State Task Force on Human Trafficking on a sensitisation campaign, ahead of the United Nations World Day against Trafficking. Photo: Alfred Ajayi
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has rescued 93 victims of human trafficking since its inception in Anambra State.
The Commander in the state, Mrs Ibadin Judith-Chukwu in an interview to mark the 2023 International Day against Human Trafficking said 10 of the rescued victims were males while 83 were females.
Judith-Chukwu gave the breakdown of the rescue efforts to include 17 in 2021, 69 in 2022 and 7 victims this year.
She said the Agency received a lot of cases most of which were external trafficking, with the victims still abroad, while efforts were on to bring back seven victims from Burkina Fasso, Ghana and Mali.
Internally, Judith-Chukwu also said a 4-year and 15-year-old children were rescued by NAPTIP.
Apart from rescuing victims, the commander noted that NAPTIP had also arrested some of the criminals.
“In 2021, NAPTIP arrested 31 suspects 16 males and 15 females while In 2022, we arrested 44 male suspects and 36 female suspects giving us a total of 80 suspects from Anambra, Benue, Imo, Rivers, Ebonyi and Akwa Ibom States”. This year, we have arrested 16 suspects 11 males and 5 females from Akwa Ibom, Niger and Anambra states,” she noted.
While restating the resolute determination of the agency towards the fight against human trafficking, the Commander stressed the need to always prioritise the interest of the victims in all operations.
This, she noted was in line with the theme of the commemoration this year’s International Day against human trafficking.
Ahead of the United Nations World Day against Trafficking in Persons on Sunday July 30, the Anambra State Task Force on Human Trafficking embarked on a walk to raise awareness on the day.
Writing by Alfred Ajayi, editing by Hadiza Abdulrahman and Annabel Nwachukwu