This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject , potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral.(January 2019) |
Agency overview | |
---|---|
Formed | 14 July 2003 |
Type | Law enforcement |
Jurisdiction | Federal Government of Nigeria |
Headquarters | Abuja, FCT, Nigeria |
Motto | Ensuring a Human Trafficking free Nation |
Agency executives |
|
Parent agency | Federal Ministry of Justice |
Website | naptip |
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) is a law enforcement agency of the federal government of Nigeria. It was established in July, 2003 to combat human trafficking and other similar human rights violations. [1]
NAPTIP is a national compliance to the international obligation under the Trafficking in Persons Protocol and responds to the need to prevent, suppress, and punish trafficking in persons, especially women, and children, complementing the United Nations Transnational Organized Crime Convention (UNTOC). [1] [2] It is one of the agencies under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Justice. [3]
Since its inception, the Agency has investigated over ten thousand cases of human trafficking and prosecuted about five hundred offenders. [2] Between 2003 and 2017, they convicted over 600 human traffickers and rescued about 21000 victims from Libya and other places. [4] [5]
Professor Fatima Waziri-Azi, assumed office as the Director General of NAPTIP on September 21, 2021. [6]
NAPTIP was established under a federal bill on July 14, 2003 [7] by the Trafficking in Persons(Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act (2003) [8] through the advocacy of Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF). [9]
NAPTIP is mandated to enforce the Trafficking in Persons(Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act (TIPPEA) in Nigeria. [10] In 2015, the Agency was also given the responsibility of implementing the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAAP) Act which was then passed into law by the National Assembly.
To discharge its duty smoothly in combating human trafficking, the agency has the following departments and units: [11]
Currently, the agency has 9 zonal commands located in Lagos, Benin, Enugu, Uyo, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Oshogbo, Makurdi and Kano Command. [13] [14]
The agency partners with non-government organizations to carry out its tasks in different states. In 2013, NAPTIP started partnering [15] with Devatop Centre for Africa Development, a youth-led anti-human trafficking organization, to train and empower youth in combating human trafficking in Nigeria, as well as investigating cases and rescuing victims. [16] NAPTIP also partners with the Network of CSOs Against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Labour, Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation, and many others.
NAPTIP requested for more support from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in their quest to rid the country of human trafficking and its attendant consequences on the image of Nigeria. This request was made by the Director General of the agency, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim. [17]
Since its inception, the agency has had over 600 [4] convictions on human traffickers, as of September 2017. Between 2003 and 2017, over 3000 victims have been rescued by NAPTIP. [5] The agency has been at the forefront of rescuing and rehabilitating Nigerians from Libya, [18] with the help of the Federal Government, the International Office for Migration, and other international organizations, which has gotten a commendation [19] from the United States.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is a Nigerian law enforcement and anti-graft agency that investigates financial crimes and unknown transactions such as advance fee fraud and money laundering. The EFCC was established in 2003, partially in response to pressure from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), which named Nigeria as one of 23 countries non-cooperative in the international community's efforts to fight money laundering. The agency has its head office in Abuja, Nigeria. The EFCC was also set up to fight against corruption and protect the country from economic saboteurs.
Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for women and children subjected to trafficking in persons including forced labour and forced prostitution. The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 2 Watchlist" in 2017. Trafficked people, particularly women and children, are recruited from within and outside the country's borders – for involuntary domestic servitude, sexual exploitation, street hawking, domestic servitude, mining, begging etc. Some are taken from Nigeria to other West and Central African countries, primarily Gabon, Cameroon, Ghana, Chad, Benin, Togo, Niger, Burkina Faso, and the Gambia, for the same purposes. Children from other West African states like Benin, Togo, and Ghana – where Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) rules allow for easy entry – are also forced to work in Nigeria, and some are subjected to hazardous jobs in Nigeria's granite mines. Europe, especially Italy and Russia, the Middle East and North Africa, are prime destinations for forced prostitution. Nigerians accounted for 21% of the 181,000 migrants that arrived in Italy through the Mediterranean in 2016 and about 21,000 Nigerian women and girls have been trafficked to Italy since 2015.
Prostitution in Niger is illegal but common in the cities, near mines and around military bases. UNAIDS estimate there are 46,630 sex workers in the country. Many have turned to prostitution because of poverty.
Beni Lar born is a politician of the People's Democratic Party from Plateau State, Nigeria. She is a member of the Nigeria Federal House of Representatives from Langtang North, Langtang South federal Constituency of Plateau State. She was first elected to the house in 2007 and in 2019, she was re-elected to a fourth term in the house.
Devatop Centre for Africa Development is a youth-led nonprofit organization with aimed towards fighting and combating human trafficking, gender-based violence, child abuse, providing educational materials and academical support to vulnerable children, and empowering women and youth. The organization has been in the forefront of combating human trafficking and executing educational projects in Nigeria. It is registered with the Cooperate Affairs Commission Nigeria and since its establishment it has impacted over a million people through training, sensitization, assistance, donations and media.
Beatrice Jedy-Agba is a Nigerian lawyer and anti-human trafficking advocate. She is the first Nigerian to be honored by the U.S. Department of State with the Trafficking in Persons Heroes Award 2014. She was Director-General of National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) between 2011 and 2016.
Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) is an anti-human trafficking organization that attempts to stop human trafficking and child labour in Nigeria. WOTCLEF's areas of focus are human trafficking, child labour, abuse of the rights of women and children and HIV/AIDS. The organization played a role in establishing the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) and the Network of Civil Society Organization Against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Labour (NACTAL).
Amina Titilayo Atiku-Abubakar is a Nigerian advocate of women and child rights and the wife of former vice president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar. She is the founder of Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF) and the initiator of the private bill that led to the establishment of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
Julie Okah-Donli is a Nigerian lawyer, chartered secretary and administrator, who served as the Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), an agency established by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2003 to tackle human trafficking and other related matters. She is the founder of the Julie Donli Kidney Foundation, an NGO that supports people with kidney disease and also mother of the musician, Lady Donli.
Cybersex trafficking, live streaming sexual abuse, webcam sex tourism/abuse or ICTs -facilitated sexual exploitation is a cybercrime involving sex trafficking and the live streaming of coerced sexual acts and/or rape on webcam.
Slavery has existed in various forms throughout the history of Nigeria, notably during the Atlantic slave trade and Trans-Saharan trade. Slavery is now illegal internationally and in Nigeria. However, legality is often overlooked with different pre-existing cultural traditions, which view certain actions differently. In Nigeria, certain traditions and religious practices have led to "the inevitable overlap between cultural, traditional, and religious practices as well as national legislation in many African states" which has had the power to exert extra-legal control over many lives resulting in modern-day slavery. The most common forms of modern slavery in Nigeria are human trafficking and child labor. Because modern slavery is difficult to recognize, it has been difficult to combat this practice despite international and national efforts.
Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim is a Nigerian politician and businesswoman. She previously served as the Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). In May 2021 she was redeployed as the Federal Commissioner of the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants, and Internally Displaced Persons. In August 2023, she was sworn in as the Minister of State for Police Affairs by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, becoming the first female Minister of Police Affairs. On 23 October 2024, during a cabinet reshuffle, she was reassigned as the Minister of Women Affairs.
The Edo State Task Force Against Human Trafficking (ETAHT) is a Nigerian task force established by the Edo State Government to tackle human trafficking and irregular migration in the state, as well as the stigma that comes with it, State Task Force against human trafficking, is currently replicated in a host of southern states such as Ondo, Delta, Oyo, Lagos, Enugu, Ekiti States, etc. Prof. Yinka Omorogbe the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Edo State, is also the chairman of the task force. In the year 2017, Mr Godwin Obaseki inaugurated the state task force on anti-human trafficking. The members of the task force were inaugurated at the Government House in Benin City, the state capital. The Edo Task Force Against Human Trafficking is said to have received about 5,619 returnees from Libya en-route Europe from 2017 till date.
Network Against Trafficking, Abuse and Labour (NACTAL) is an umbrella organisation of Nigerian non-governmental organizations engaged in advocacy and campaign for children's rights, anti-human trafficking, human rights abuse and child labour with some 220 member organizations in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory.
Action Against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants in Nigeria is an 11th European Development Fund project which is implemented in Nigeria by the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP).
Idia Renaissance is a non governmental civil society organization based in Edo State, Nigeria. The organization organize activities around human trafficking, including reception of victims of human trafficking. Idia Renaissance was founded by Mrs. Eki Igbinedion, wife of Chief Lucky Igbinedion, a former governor of Edo State. In 2021, Idia Renaissance partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to create awareness on human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women girls.
Fatima Waziri-Azi is a Nigerian lawyer and the Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) of Nigeria. Before her appointment at NAPTIP she was an advisor on the rule of law to the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari. She is a former Head of Department of Public Law at the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and she is a woman rights advocate and a campaigner against domestic and sexual based violence.
The Nigeria Sexual Offender and Service Provider Database (NSOD) is a database that consists of the sexual offender register and the service provider register. It is a document of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons by the Federal Government of Nigeria, published in September 2019 to document cases of sexual violence and run background checks on sexual offenders in the 36 states of Nigeria.
The 2015 Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act is an act which was initially passed in 2003 and amended in 2005 and 2015 by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The act was established to provide welfare and support for trafficked persons while also announcing penalties for offenses related to human trafficking in Nigeria. The act led to the establishment of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
Sex trafficking in Nigeria is a form of human trafficking which involves reproductive slavery or commercial sexual exploitation Nigeria. This involves the exploitation and movement of people from one location to the other through coercsion, deception or forcibly to exploit them sexually for financial and sexual benefits.