Photo: Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State (middle) with the Director General (DG), National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dame Julie Okah-Donli (5th right), other NAPTIP officials and members of the newly inaugurated Enugu State Task Force on Human Trafficking, at the Government House, Enugu.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has applauded Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, for his administration’s “giant developmental projects” in the state since its assumption of office in 2015. NAPTIP also commended Gov. Ugwuanyi for “your recent consistent support for your frontline health workers to safeguard the lives of the citizens of Enugu State, to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic”. The body gave the commendations when the Director General (DG), Dame Julie Okah-Donli, led a delegation to the Government House, Enugu, on Wednesday, for the inauguration of the Enugu State Task Force on Human Trafficking, which was performed by Gov. Ugwuanyi. Okah-Donli said that “it takes a man with strong vision and purpose to achieve these feats”. The DG explained that NAPTIP as the focal agency in the fight against human trafficking in Nigeria, “is also the implementing agency for the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act 2015, which Enugu State domesticated on 8th May 2019”. She disclosed that NAPTIP was collaborating with state governments to set up task forces against human trafficking, under the supervision of the state governors, to be chaired by the State Attorney Generals, in order to consolidate the efforts of the agency and other stakeholders. The NAPTIP boss pointed out that the problems associated with human trafficking as well as irregular migration have become of great national concern, “especially with the large number of Nigerians trapped in sexual and labour exploitation in various African and European countries”. Expressing worries that human trafficking portends danger to human and national security, the NAPTIP DG stressed that “it must be addressed boldly and frontally”. She therefore maintained that the state task forces on human trafficking.