According to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, between 2004 and 2023, Nigeria saw no fewer than 599 convictions for human trafficking, Entrepreneurng Report.
This was announced by Barrister Nduka Nwawenne, the agency’s Benin Zonal Commander, on Monday during the Uromi Justice Development Peace and Caritas Initiative consultative session with judges and magistrates in Benin, Edo State.
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The focus of the consultation session was the state’s Victims of Trafficking Trust Fund’s operationalization.
Nwawenne pointed out that the first NAPTIP conviction was recorded in Edo State, where the convict was given a three-year jail sentence in a decision made on Friday, November 19, 2004, by the state’s then-chief judge, Hon. Constance Momoh.
In 2022, the agency recorded 80 convictions, making it the nation’s greatest annual conviction rate, he continued.
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He also revealed that, as of March 31, 2023, the CIA has secured 27 convictions. The trafficking trust fund needs to be made more functional, according to the Benin Zonal Commander, to improve the state’s help and protection of victims of human trafficking.
“I must mention that 599 people have been found guilty across the nation since the first conviction was obtained in 2004.”
“The trust fund provisions are intended to provide a potent counterpunch in the rehabilitation and reintegration of human trafficking victims.”
“However, both in the Edo state law and in the national law, the funds have not been effective, even though at the federal level, a committee exists to attract and manage the funds,” he claimed.”
He noted that although the Task Force on Human Trafficking in Edo State had its first convictions in 2021, it has made significant strides in prosecuting further human traffickers.
Very Reverend Father Fidelis Arhedo, Executive Director of Uromi JPDCI, stated earlier in his opening remarks that the workshop’s goal was to mobilize relevant parties and spur action toward the activation of the victims of trafficking trust fund as specified in the 2018 Edo Traffic in Persons Prohibition law.
The workshop, he continued, was to push for the creation of the victims of trafficking trust fund committee by sections 67 and 68 of the Edo Traffic in Persons Prohibition statute in 2018.
To ensure that victims of human trafficking receive compensation, he nevertheless enlisted the help of the legal system, NAPTIP, and other parties involved in the battle against the crime.
Source: PunchÂ
