The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has said traffickers are weaponising Nigerians’ desperation for greener pastures abroad to recruit many victims into modern-day slavery.
It said only aggressive sensitisation campaigns would help stem the tide.
NAPTIP’s Director-General, Professor Fatima Waziri-Azi, made this observation when she spoke at a town hall dialogue with community stakeholders in Abuja on Monday.
The meeting was part of events lined up to commemorate the 2024 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
Waziri-Azi hinted that until the causes of seeking greener pasture such as Socioeconomic and sociopolitical factors, poverty, lack of jobs are addressed in a very strategic way, the circle continues to grow.
She said NAPTIP received support such as operational vehicles from its partners such as the German, Canadian and British Governments as well as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Federal Capital Territory and the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies.
In his welcome address, NAPTIP’s Director of Intelligence, Mr. Josiah Emerole, said the theme of this year’s World Day Against Human Trafficking, ‘Leave No Child Behind in the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons,’ underscores the urgency and importance of its mission.