NAPTIP  Arraigns  Woman  Who Sold Over 120 Children …Laments  Unavailability Of Tracking Devices

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons, NAPTIP, has disclosed that a woman who has sold over 120 children has been arrested and is now facing prosecution.
The agency also disclosed that  lack of tracking  machines had hampered its work over the past  20 years.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi stated this when she appeared before the Senate Committee on Special Duties,yesterday
According to Waziri-Azi, apart from the prosecution of the woman whose name she couldn’t disclose, they are also investigating a lot of fake orphanages and those who fake documents to run organizations they are using to traffic children.
Her words “We are currently prosecuting a woman who has sold over 120 children. Young girls are lured into baby making machines where they are camped in houses and they sleep with different men,” According  to Fatima
Human traffickers have capitalized on the ‘japa syndrome ‘ and are now exploiting Nigerians.
“We have 32 offices in the country. We don’t have offices in Kogi, Niger and Bauchi State and we spent a lot from our shelters.
“We feed the victims, cloth them, provide support, trace their families and also help in repatriation,” she said, adding that 20,200 victims have received support.
According to her, there are a lot of rescued victims in Lagos, Katsina, Kano and Abuja with Benue having the highest number of rescued victims.
The director general said NAPTIP has secured 639 convictions in 20 years adding that in 2021 alone, they received 1,232 human trafficking complaints.
“Every state in Nigeria is faced with trafficking especially Jigawa, Kano, Katsina. Before it was Edo State,” she said, adding that they have always relied on donors to fund their activities, which is inadequate.  We are supporting 32 victims in school, additional 21 in university.
“We existed for 20 years, but we don’t have a tracking device. We rely on Interpol, DSS for the machines we use in tracking,” she added.

By: Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja