The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), in collaboration with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), has trained more than 70 teachers from three Colleges of Education in the Asaba cluster, Delta State, on anti-human trafficking.
The workshop, held as a follow-up to a national-level Training of Trainers in Enugu, was designed to equip educators with the knowledge and skills to integrate anti-human trafficking content into the education sector.
Speaking at the event, the Zonal Commander of NAPTIP’s Benin Zonal Command, Mr. Sam Affiah, explained that the training aimed to empower lecturers to educate their students and wider school communities on the risks and realities of human trafficking.
He noted that the initiative would create a ripple effect of awareness, as participants were expected to cascade their knowledge to others, fostering a well-informed academic environment.
Affiah further stressed the need for political will and societal change to effectively tackle the scourge, adding that the partnership between ICMPD and NAPTIP was a crucial step toward preparing a generation that is informed and ready to confront human trafficking.
Affiah said, “This will go a long way. The government should look inward to see how it will restructure and strengthen the criminal justice system of our country. This will help us in combating the issue of human trafficking and other related offences, and we will give credit to whom it is due, which is the government.”
The ICMPD Schools Anti -Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project Officer for Delta State, Ijeoma David Ukoko, said the programme funded by the Government of the Netherlands was to train the school community with anti- trafficking education.
She stated that the essence of strengthening the capacity of teachers of colleges of education with anti-trafficking education was informed by the need to integrate issues of trafficking into the curriculum of colleges for the education of students as part of measures to stop human trafficking.
Ukoko further said, “We are talking about anti-trafficking education because it is preventing the menace in society. Trafficking is not just a cross-issue issue, but it’s domestic. It’s a pipeline. How can we stop feeding this pipeline? How do we stop the supply side? There is a demand side, which is checked by NAPTIP through prosecution. The supply side means that we have to prevent people from being made vulnerable to trafficking.”
”As a country and region in the world, the Netherlands is also one of the destinations for trafficked victims. So, as much as they are very much in tune with preserving and conserving human rights, it is also important for the country of the victims to know that this is happening. So, it’s a partnership. How can we support you in this, to prevent the inflow where they will now meet an unpleasant ending? It’s a collaboration. Hence, the Government of the Netherlands will fund the STEAP Project through ICMPD.”
Continuing, she said, “We have already sensitized some of the SBMC or PTA members, the heads of schools, the vanguard coordinators. Now, we are not going to do this in isolation when we have teachers being churned out yearly. What do we do? We target the source of the teachers, which are colleges of education. So, we train and sensitize them, so that they can, in turn, find out ways and means of transmitting this information they have acquired here into the school curriculum.”
There were various paper presentations, including the guidelines for the implementation of Trafficking in Persons Content in NCE Minimum Standards by Achi Anthony Ndubisi of Federal College of Education, Technical, Asaba.
Head, Counselling and Rehabilitation Unit of NAPTIP, Stephen Selowo, and the Chief Intelligence Officer, NAPTIP, Mrs Eneh Okeoghene, made presentations on ‘Migration and Counter-Trafficking Measures’ as well as on the ‘Causes, Consequences and Trafficking related Crimes.’
Participants at the workshop thanked the organizers for the training, which they described as key to tackling human trafficking.
In her remarks, the Secretary of the Delta State Taskforce Against Trafficking and Irregular Migration, Mrs Ijeoma Nwanze, said the workshop was of great impact to Delta State as students in colleges of education in the state would be sensitized on the danger of trafficking
