The Director General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dr Fatima Waziri-Azi, has called for cooperation amongst countries in the fight against human trafficking.
While speaking at the 2021 NAPTIP embassy liaison stakeholders meeting, the DG explained that “cooperation among countries is a necessary ingredient in combatting transnational crime in general and trafficking in persons specifically. And that cooperation requires, at the outset, the support of high-level political officials, but also depends on a pre-existing presence of intra-country cooperation”.
“This platform is one of the initiatives of NAPTIP to strengthen cooperation, collaboration, communication and partnership between the Agency and the international community towards the fight against TIP. It is impossible for any single agency or organization to respond comprehensively to all of the elements of human trafficking; we need one another” she added.
The DG also mentioned that in a bid to reduce trafficking in persons the agency is making progress in enhancing investigation, prosecution, convictions of traffickers as this will serve as a warning to others who are in the same line of work.
Migration adviser to the Embassy of Switzerland, Manuel Muhleback, commended on the work done so far by NAPTIP.
He noted that “Switzerland has a long-standing co-operation with Nigeria and NAPTIP most especially. Through initiatives such as the blue bus project which is supported by the Swiss confederation and has kicked off in Edo, Lagos and Delta, we are able to create more awareness on the issue of trafficking in persons”.