Delta Govt Directs Teachers To Use Anti‑Trafficking Skills

Delta State government has urged 150 subject teachers from 50 selected schools to impact their students through the effective application of the skills acquired during the ongoing TIP content training and capacity building under the Schools Anti‑Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project (STEAP).

The attorney-general and chairman of the Delta State Task Force on Human Trafficking and Irregular Migration, (DSTHTIM), Ekemejero Ohwovoriole, gave the charge at the closing of the first batch training held in Asaba, the state capital.

He said the state government was equipping secondary schools to take an active role in preventing human trafficking through the STEAP project.

Represented by Task Force member and director-general of the Delta State Bureau for Orientation and Communications, Barr Latimore Oghenesivbe, the attorney-general said the task force comprising the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP), Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), You Matter Foundation, traditional rulers, faith-based organisations, and other stakeholders, was working tirelessly to check traffickers and their partners from the state.

Ohwovoriole explained that the STEAP training aligns with the government’s goals to ensure teachers are well‑grounded in implementing STEAP through strategic training and sustainable capacity building programmes.

He emphasized that the programme equips teachers with required methodologies, pedagogical tools, and other approaches to effectively deliver Trafficking in Persons (TIP) content embedded in the revised basic education curriculum.

Earlier, Hajia Binta Adamu Bello, Director General of NAPTIP who was represented by Mrs. Roku Odugbesan, stated that the workshop is part of broader efforts to safeguard children and strengthen national responses to human trafficking through education.

She noted that over 55 per cent of identified trafficking victims are school‑aged children, and NAPTIP and NERDC have collaborated to develop and integrate TIP content into curricula across basic and senior secondary schools nationwide.

The project manager of STEAP, Rhoda Dia‑Johnson, disclosed that over 75 per cent of trafficking victims in West Africa are children, pointing out that empowering teachers as educators and child protection advocates creates safer school environments, builds resilient communities, and helps break the trafficking cycle.

She said the training focuses on equipping teachers to deliver TIP content using effective methodologies and tools aimed at preventing trafficking by educating children and communities, fostering safe environments, and supporting victims.