The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disasters management
and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq, during the presentation
stated that the document was expected to foster greater collaboration among
stakeholders.
Represented by Mr Charles Anielu, a Director in the
ministry, Farouq said that the document would bring efficiency in the fight
against human trafficking in Nigeria and set yearly bench mark for stakeholders
on the implementation of activities.
The minister noted that the policy document could not have
come at a better time than now when the country was facing a number of social,
humanitarian and developmental issues.
“My ministry has risen to the challenges of delivering on
its core mandate of developing humanitarian policies and providing effective
coordination of national and international humanitarian interventions.
“The ministry has risen to ensure strategic disaster
mitigation preparedness and response and managing the formulation and
implementation of fair focused social inclusion and protection programmes in
Nigeria.
“In a bid to effectively coordinate the wide mandate of the
ministry, we developed L.I.F.E Cycle – Lead an Inclusive and Innovative
Future-thinking Ecosystem,“ she said.
The minister said it was an operational coordination
initiative which aligned with the activities of all the agencies under the
ministry, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
“This initiative finds expression in NAP on human
trafficking in Nigeria (2022 – 2026), which is a coordination framework for
counter-trafficking interventions.
“Since the approval of the document by the Federal Executive
Council in February and its public presentation at the National Stakeholders
Consultative Forum (NSCF) on human trafficking in April, the document was yet
to be fully mainstreamed,” Farouq said.
She said that it was imperative to convene the meeting as a
platform to engage heads of Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) and
other relevant organisations to understand their roles in the implementation of
the document.
Earlier in her address of welcome, NAPTIP Director-General,
Dr Fatima Waziri-Azi, stated that human trafficking had remained a source of
threat to international, national, and human security and had become the
greatest contemporary challenges.
She said that the Nigerian government had over the years
realised the strategic roles of all segments of the society in combatting the
social ill, hence the need why government through NAPTIP was approaching the
menace in various dimensions.
Waziri-Azi stated that after the establishment of NAPTIP,
the agency had continuously developed and expanded structures to deepen the
involvement of relevant actors in stemming the tide of human trafficking in
Nigeria.
“You would recall that in 2009, NAPTIP developed a Four-Year
National Action Plan (NAP) on Trafficking in Persons (2009-2012) that became a
collaborative framework that set the benchmarks for interventions by all
stakeholders.
“The implementation of the first edition of `NAP On Human
Trafficking (2009-2012)` provided the much needed framework for a coordinated
response to human trafficking in Nigeria among the stakeholders.
“The first edition led to numerous achievements recorded by
the agency in the succeeding years. Some of these achievements were the
landmark upgrading of Nigeria to Tier One status for three consecutive years in
the US, 2009 – 2012,“ she said.
Waziri-Azi said that upon the expiration of the timeframe of
the NAP 2009 – 2012, there were a number of unsuccessful attempts to develop
the next Action Plan until 2017 when NAPTIP and stakeholders came together.
“This first activity heralded the commencement of the
development of the new NAP (2022 – 2026) which we are presenting today,” she
said.
According to her, the report of the appraisal and the
findings from the baseline assessment of the trafficking situation in Nigeria
were presented to the stakeholders at the first workshop held between Nov. 23
and Nov. 25, 2020.
Waziri-Azi commended some relevant partners such as the UN
Office on Drug and Crimes (UNODC), the International Organisation for Migration
(IOM) which had been supporting NAPTIP on the fight against the menace.