Agency Report
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on Tuesday said that 2,884 Lagos State indigenes were rescued from traffickers in the last 16 years.
The Director General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, disclosed this at the State House, Ikeja during the inauguration of the Lagos State Task Force on Human Trafficking.
According to her, 1,535 indigenes of Lagos State were rescued by NAPTIP and her partners, while International Organisation for Migration (IOM) returned 1,349 indigenes of Lagos from various parts of the world.
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Okah-Donli said that almost all the states in Nigeria were affected by irregular migration and human trafficking.
”However, Lagos State is endemic for trafficking of children and adults for domestic servitude, sexual exploitation in brothels, street begging and street trading, as well as other forms of exploitation because of the cosmopolitan nature of Lagos.
”From 2004 to July 2020, a total of 1,535 indigenes of Lagos State have been rescued by NAPTIP and her partners, consisting of 1,324 females and 211 Males, mostly from Ikorodu, Ajeromi-Ifelodun, Agege, Alimosho, Eti-Osa, Epe and Badagry Local Government Areas.
”These victims were mostly subjected to child labour, domestic servitude and sexual exploitation.
”Significantly, between 2017 and 2020, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) returned 1,349 indigenes of Lagos from various parts of the world, especially Libya, Mali, Niger and parts of Europe. This comprised 1,180 females and 169 males,” she said.
According to her, in the year 2020 alone, in spite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, NAPTIP rescued a total number of 18 indigenes of Lagos State from traffickers, comprising of 16 females and two males.
Okah-Donli said that another worrying trend was the trafficking of young Nigerian women to the Middle East, especially Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE.
She said that between March and August 2020, NAPTIP facilitated the repatriation of 355 young women from domestic and sexual servitude in Lebanon, out of whom, six were indigenes of Lagos state, while 42 others were resident in Lagos.
The NAPTIP boss said that the repatriation was in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nigerian Embassy in Lebanon, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Diaspora Commission, National Emergency Management Agency and IOM.
NAN
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