The Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Person, NAPTIP, Hajiya Binta Adamu-Bello has warned that human trafficking is a significant and direct threat to national security and public safety by fueling organised crime.
The DG made the remarks in Dutse at the launch of a programme aimed at supporting and empowering women and children from Jigawa who are engaged in street begging across Nigeria.
The programme, being implemented by Hamadan Kasiran Orphan, Vulnerable and Children OVC Foundation, in collaboration with the Children Education Support Initiative in Arewa, championed by the wife of Jigawa Governor, Hajiya Amina Nadami, seeks to provide opportunities and support to help them improve their lives and break the cycle of poverty.
”Child beggars are highly vulnerable to human trafficking, as a sizeable number of them are recruited for various forms of exploitation, organ harvesting, or even used in armed conflict,” she said.
Adamu-Bello, represented by the agency’s Commander in the state, Mr Abdulkadir Turajo, said NAPTIP, established in 2003, was Nigeria’s only focal agency responsible for fighting the scourge of human trafficking and other related exploitation across the country.
According to her, reports and findings indicate a high prevalence of recruitment into terrorism and armed conflict among the victims of human trafficking who are daily transported from rural to urban areas and across borders for prostitution and hazardous labour.
Adamu-Bello described human trafficking as one of the world’s most serious threats to national security and public safety.
”It fuels public sector corruption, irregular migration, undermines human capital development potentials, causes social breakdown and exclusion, dearth of capable manpower, human degradation, abuse of human rights, spread of diseases, tarnishes national image, and other associated financial crimes,” she said.
Earlier, the OVC Foundation and CESIA National President, Mr Sa’idu Kaptan, commended the Jigawa governor’s wife for her unwavering support, compassion, and commitment to the welfare of vulnerable women and children.
“Your leadership is a beacon of hope and your presence is a powerful reminder that change begins with empathy and action,” Kaptan said.
The representatives of Dutse and Ringim Emirate Councils, Alhaji Yusuf Turaki and Alhaji Muktar Wada, respectively, praised the foundation for its efforts in protecting the vulnerable in society.
