NACTAL holds stakeholders’ sensitization meeting on human trafficking in Kwara
A Civil Society Organization, The Network Against Child Trafficking Abuse and Labour (NACTAL), on Wednesday, held a stakeholders’ sensitization meeting at the Kwara State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development in Ilorin, the state capital city.
Speaking at the meeting, the state coordinator, Oyedeji Olufemi, said apart from Kwara State being a gateway between the northern and southern Nigeria which makes internal trafficking much easier along the corridor, it also shared an international border with Benin Republic in Baruten LGA through which traffickers move victims in and out of the country.
Olufemi pointed out what the organization has been doing to curb the tides of human trafficking in the state.
He said, “NACTAL is a civil society organization with the headquarter in Abuja. This network is the leading civil society organization in the fight against human trafficking in Nigeria. Today, this stakeholders’ sensitization program is to raise awareness of high-risk populations of human trafficking. It is being supported by FIIAP and founded by European Union. FIIAP is a Spanish government organization that is working with the Nigerian government to reduce human Trafficking in Nigeria through awareness, capacity building and so on.
“We are in Kwara State to provide support for our civil society organizations and other stakeholders that are working on human Trafficking in Kwara State. The essence of this is to ensure that stakeholders responding to this issue get to know themselves and work for hand in hand to fight Human Trafficking.
“And we have seen a pattern of human Trafficking in Kwara State, so by tomorrow, we would be at Edu Local Government particularly Lafiagi, where we would also be sensitizing the whole community on the dangers and ills of Human Trafficking. Human Trafficking as we know is an organized crime. It is a gross violation of human rights; no human being should be subjected to it. So we all have a role to play; the road transport workers, law enforcement agencies, government institutions, Nigerian immigration service, civil defense corps and many others all have a role to play and that’s the essence of what we are doing today to strengthen response against human trafficking in this country.”
He appreciated the state ministry of women affairs who have been working tirelessly to support the fight in Kwara State.
Olufemi also called on the media to help raise awareness on the dangers of human trafficking and to educate the citizens particularly young people.
“We know that a lot of young people are vulnerable to human Trafficking due to unemployment, poverty, conflicts that have also displaced some people from their communities have continued to make human Trafficking a very alarming issue in Nigeria but we believe with awareness, with sensitization, with advocacy, we can curb this crime called human Trafficking,” he stressed.
For her part, the permanent secretary Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajia Afusat Ibrahim, said human trafficking is on the high prevalence in Kwara State because there are issues of interstate human trafficking.
“We have our guests especially from the Kwara North being taken to Lagos State and other big cities for child abuse activities whereby they become slaves, do a lot of things and they are exposed to different hazards; infact, many are raped, many cannot even trace their homes again. The effort of the state government in curbing this menace is also marching up to the high prevalence because the government of today has zero tolerance for human Trafficking in Kwara State.
“Just recently 29 girls were smuggled into the country through Baruten Okuta, they were intercepted and the state government was able to repatriate them back to they were coming from. This is to tell you that the state government has no abode for such a crime. These girls, having been declared wanted in their country in the law and this will serve as a deterrent for others,” she expressed.
Hajia Ibrahim, however, appreciated the efforts of the State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for his continued support to curb the menace of human trafficking, child labour and other related offences in the state.