NAPTIP rescues 2,743 trafficked victims

Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Fatima Waziri-Azi, Tuesday said NAPTIP rescued 2,743 trafficked victims last year.

She stated this at a press conference in Abuja.

She said, “In 2022, NAPTIP received 1,440 reported cases of trafficking in persons: 412 external trafficking cases (28.6%) and 1,028 internal trafficking cases (71.4%). 2,743 victims were rescued in collaboration with other sister law enforcement agencies: male children, 233 (8.5%); female children, 688 (25.1%); male adults, 363 (13.2%); and female adults, 1,459 (53.2%).

“Victims of inward trafficking were 45, that is; victims trafficked into Nigeria; returned victims from abroad were 251; and intercepted victims were 1,484, that is; those who were on their way out of Nigeria. 

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“Most of these victims are trafficked by road through our borders all across the country. 

“We also secured 80 convictions in 2022: 45 males and 35 females.”

She said the agency’s counter-trafficking project, launched in collaboration with the Canadian Government, was to address human trafficking gradually.

The Canadian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Jamie Christoff, said Canada would support NAFDAC to detect, deter and dismantle human trafficking networks in the country.