The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has organized a joint victims’ assistance and medical outreach for 100 victims of human trafficking (VoTs) in Kano.
Head of region for the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) West Africa, Dr. Mojisola Sodeinde, made this known while distributing assistance to the victims at NAPTIP’s Kano zonal office.
Sodeinde, represented by ICMPD’s programme assistant, Mr. Adeniyi Bakr, said the event was part of the activities implemented under the framework of the project titled “Strengthening Niger-Niger Cooperation on Countering Trafficking in Human Beings,” funded by the Kingdom of The Netherlands and implemented by ICMPD.
She highlighted that ICMPD is an international organization with 20 member states, active in more than 90 countries worldwide. It takes a regional approach in its work to create efficient cooperation and partnerships along migration routes.
The Netherland-funded project was inspired by a meeting facilitated by ICMPD between NAPTIP of Nigeria and ANLTP/TIM of Niger from 16th to 18th April 2019 in Abuja.
At the end of the discussions, a communiqué was issued, calling for a series of short, medium, and long-term actions, including the execution of a bilateral agreement/memorandum of understanding.
Sodeinde maintained that the aim of this project is to foster operational cooperation and establish a direct, flexible, and tactical joint operation mechanism. The objective is to go beyond sitting comfortably in respective capital cities or relying on the actions or inactions of non-state actors, but to get on the field, take the lead, and get the job done.
She added, “Its three-pillar approach to migration management, structurally linking research, migration dialogues, and capacity building, contributes to better migration policy development worldwide.”
In a remark, director-general of NAPTIP, Dr. Fatima Waziri-Azi, said the outreach was necessary to address the issue of trauma and sexual exploitation of victims of human trafficking (VoTs). Waziri-Azi, represented by the director of counselling and rehabilitation at NAPTIP, Mrs. Angela Agbayekhai, stated that VoTs often have medical issues, some of which they are unaware of. She said, “We hope to extend the outreach to some other states.”
