The National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Persons ( NAPTIP) has said that it has convicted over 559 persons to various prison terms across the country since its inception.
Nduka Nwawenne, Benin Zonal Commander of the agency made this known at the Uromi Justice Development and Peace and Caritas Initiative (Uromi JDPCI) consultative workshop with judges and magistrates in Benin City.
The consultative workshop was on the operationalization of the Victims of Trafficking Trust Fund (VTTF) in Edo State. Nwawenne noted that NAPTIP first conviction was recorded in Edo State High Court where the convict was sentenced to three years imprisonment in a judgment delivered on Friday, November 19, 2004 by the then Chief Judge of the state, Hon Constance Momoh.
He added that the agency recorded 80 convictions in 2022 making it the highest number of yearly convictions in the country. He also disclosed that in this year alone, 27 convictions has been obtained by the agency as at March 31, 2023.
The Benin Zonal Commander, opined that there was the need to strengthen victims protection by making the victims of trafficking trust fund more operational so as to enhance the assistance and protection to victims of human trafficking in Edo State. According to him,the provisions of the trust funds is supposed to be an effective counterpoise in the rehabilitation and reintegration of victims of human trafficking.
“However, both in the Edo state law and in the national law, the funds has not been effective, even though at the Federal level, a committee existed to attract and manage the funds”, he said.
While noting that the Edo State TaskForce on Human Trafficking recorded its first convictions in 2021, he added that it is making appreciable progress in bringing other human traffickers to book.
