Despite prosecution and campaigns against human trafficking, perpetrators are finding new ways to continue their trade, deceiving vulnerable people to leave their homes. Dame Julie Donli-Okah, DG of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), tells Daily Trust about efforts to curb illegal migration and human trafficking in Nigeria.
What is responsible for the continuous migration of Nigerians to other countries despite the horrifying experiences associated with such journeys?
Many people are very ignorant of things that are going on. Most of the victims are taken from the rural areas, where they do not have access to the internet, if they had they would have seen or heard of the horrors of taking such journeys. Even their parents do not have access to the internet. This is partly responsible for the continuous illegal migration.
On the part of the traffickers, there is so much greed because they are making so much money. For them the risk is very low, the demand is high and the profit is extremely high, and they are so greedy and evil minded. There is so much moral decadence now, we used to be our brother’s keepers but now brothers are the ones selling their brother’s into slavery. We really need to start looking into this, by carrying out orientation campaigns to reorient the minds of Nigerians generally; remind them of where we are coming from, who we are and what our culture is.
What has NAPTIP done as an agency to curb this menace?
Since I came on board we have embarked on massive awareness campaigns, starting from the grassroots, the communities where these people are taken. This time around we are not only sensitizing the girls and boys, we are also sensitizing their parents, because their parents are ignorant and sometimes even push their children into such activities, they even sell their belongings because they think their children are going to better their lives.
We engage the community leaders like the women leaders, youth leaders, market women associations, and the rest. They in turn take the message back to their people, to tell them, look you need to be careful, do not send your children out any longer, if someone promises them good jobs or scholarship, please contact NAPTIP to verify such information. That is what we are going to be doing in all the 36 states including the FCT, until everybody hears the messages, we are involving the religious organisations till the news is everywhere.
What new dimensions have the human traffickers taken, which you have raised so much alarm about?
It is organ harvesting; simply the sale of organs. There are so many people all over the world who are waiting for transplant and so are so desperate that they buy these organs in the black market. The destination countries need to start investigating where these organs are coming from, they need to regulate transplant, ask more questions, monitor these transplant in order to ensure that they are not organs of trafficked victims.
How would you view NAPTIP’s relationship with these destination countries, has it helped in curbing the menace?
NAPTIP has bilateral agreements with so many of the endemic countries, and we have some kind of working relationships in terms of mutual legal assistance. We also have programme for victim care and support. This is because the destination countries must be constantly reminded that these are victims and not criminals. So we need to keep reminding them to ensure that the human rights of these victims are respected and that they are voluntarily brought back and not forcefully repatriated. They must have some packages for them so that, when they come back they don’t come back empty handed.
Some of these destination countries organise training for our officers and they also carry out joint investigations with us, and joint operations as well.
Has NAPTIP gotten any viable tip offs or intelligence from home or these destination countries to aid operations?
We usually get tip off relating to Nigerians but I told them and I keep telling them as much as you are giving us tip off concerning Nigerians we also need to know who these Nigerians are collaborating and conspiring with in your countries. We need to have an idea, like the numbers of those prosecuted in their countries that conspired with Nigerians. It has to be balanced otherwise it will be an exercise in futility.
How many human traffickers has the agency prosecuted?
So far we have prosecuted about 1000 persons and gotten about 334 convictions. We still have a lot of cases in court, and we hope to get many more convictions. The law gives us the power to confiscate assets and freeze the funds of these human traffickers, so what we are trying to do is while we are doing that here in Nigeria, we expect the destination countries to do same in their countries. When they forfeit their asset, you cripple them economically, the business will no longer be useful or attractive to him.
How far has the law for victims’ care and support gone since it was reviewed?
The laws for victim care and support are being implemented by some countries and this is what we keep pushing for. We are hoping that every country will be in compliance with the victim care and support law. However Nigeria is one of the countries that are implementing the law that is why we have victims being taken care of in the shelters, rehabilitated and reintegrated back into society. They are not discriminated against or stigmatized, we respect their human rights, they are entitled to lawyers, and we respect their opinions as well.
How many shelters does the NAPTIP have across the country?
We have 10 shelters attached to the 10 zonal commands, so at a point in time, we cannot give a specific figure of the number of victims in our shelter because of the influx of victims coming in and the vast operations by our officials across the country. However at the headquarters we have 60 victims and in Lagos we have about 50 victims, so in all the other zonal commands it depends on how many we are able to get at any point in time. As we speak now we may have about 20 or 30 more on their way.
What last word do you have for Nigerians?
My last words to Nigerians generally are that, human trafficking is not our culture. I cannot fathom what is going on with us, we need to be our brother’s keepers, if you see any evil thing going on please report to NAPTIP, do not condone evil, do not condone human trafficking.
To parents, please do not send your children out of Nigeria because there is a lot they can do in Nigeria. The federal and state governments are coming up with a lot of programmes to empower the youths now. You don’t need to travel out of the country.
And to the human traffickers, NAPTIP will come after you, no matter who you are and you will go to jail and pay for the blood of the innocent youths that you have been feeding fat on.
