The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has explained why it is important for its officials to be present at Nigeria’s airport and borders.
NAPTIP Director-General, Julie Okah-Donli, said this during her appearance on the latest episode of Channels Television’s Hard Copy which aired on Friday.
Okah-Donli, who alleged that NAPTIP officials were not allowed at the airports and borders, stressed that their presence would go a long way in tackling the menace of human trafficking and other related crimes.
According to her, the purported refusal was attributed to the Ease of Doing Business which the authorities claimed would be affected by the presence of the officials of the agency.
“Unfortunately, we are not allowed to be at the airport, I have brought this up severally on the need and importance for NAPTIP to be at the airport and borders, but we were told that the Ease of Doing Business will not allow NAPTIP to be at the airport or borders.
“I will still continue to push until we are allowed to stay at the airport and at the borders; the reason being that, those at the airport and borders don’t have trafficking as their core mandate, so they are definitely going to concentrate on their core mandate. But NAPTIP’s mandate is to stop all types of human trafficking, and so if they have our officials at the airport, we will definitely stop human trafficking.
“It is important that NAPTIP is stationed at the airports, seaports and borders; if that happens, we will see a drastic drop in the number of girls who are trafficked to the Middle East,” she stressed.
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On the area of collaborating with other enforcement agencies and stakeholders, the NAPTIP boss expressed that the level of relationship can be improved on.
“It is extremely important for NAPTIP to have a very good relationship with all the law enforcement agencies and relevant stakeholders because there must be synergy, cooperation and there must be coordination.
“I am not feeling it the way I want to feel it and that is why I am reaching out to the law enforcement agencies because some of them think they are superior, but I tell them that we are working together for the good of Nigeria; we must come together and work closely.
“We are collaborating in the fight against human trafficking with the Immigration service; we are both trying to see what we can do to ensure that we bring it to the barest minimum.”
