Female gender most vulnerable to trafficking – NAPTIP DG

Imaam Sulaiman – Ibrahim is the director general,  National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) . In this interview with ENE OSHABA, she says women especially young girls are most vulnerable to trafficking.

How has it been piloting the affairs of NAPTIP?


I’m sure you will agree with me that it’s very challenging but more importantly it’s such a task that I’m honoured to pilot because its about safeguarding human rights and ensuring that we  control and eliminate all forms of degradation of human rights especially irregular and forced migration. It’s a huge task and a lot of prospects for a stronger institution and Nigeria.


Why has trafficking in persons persisted despite advocacies and awareness? 


I think that our response has always been geared towards dealing with the consequences, so going forward, we have a renewed vision that is also strong towards preventing and addressing the root causes of the problem. The crime is fueled by economic needs and lack of awareness. That is why our renewed vision has strong components of addressing the economic needs by empowering people in the right manner that they desire. We are going to embark on a very aggressive public awareness so that people can be aware when they see the danger signs. We will make sure people find the best of their lives and make good use of opportunities available in the country. We have a slogan that, ‘the grass is greener where you are standing’ meaning you don’t have to go to go too far in order to find the green pasture. We are working with state governments to complement the efforts of the federal government for more success in the fight against human trafficking.

What specific strategy would you use in achieving this?


Our strategy is growth; we would ensure that we grow NAPTIP as an organisation to fight the menace of trafficking and offer our services better. Secondly, we are not only going to be dealing with consequences, we are going to be addressing the root cause like I mentioned before. We would not only be investigating and prosecuting victims as we don’t have to wait for them to be victims; we will be preventing them from being victims.


What’s the current statistics of people being trafficked?


You know because of the clandestine nature of the crime, we don’t have the statistics. No country has 100% accurate statistics, but I can assure you that the statistics hasn’t changed over the years, it’s averagely maybe about 1000 cases, and maybe about 5000-10,000 returnees depending on the number of repratration we do yearly. When it comes to prosecution it’s maybe about 50-100 a year.


It is said that women are the most trafficked, is this true?


In the society, women are most vulnerable and easily accessible. If you look at the crime they engage them in like sexual exploitation, women are the main target and that makes women the most trafficked persons.


Have you been able to secure justice for these women victims?


Yes this year alone, we have been able to secure about 20 convictions with one life imprisonment for a victim of rape. We have a few sentences for offenders of the trafficking crime and we have been able to secure 20 just between January and now, so we are getting justice for people. Just recently, we reunited six rescued children with their parents. The children under the age range of 4-7 were abducted at various times by one 32-year-old Musa Abdulrahman and sold to unsuspecting women in different parts of the country in the guise of adoption.


What’s the situation on transborder trafficking?

The situation is that we are expecting a spike in trafficking despite the pandemic. With the pandemic, there was no movement but a lot of recruiting happened online. So we organised a training to combat the crime through the social media because the organised criminals are using the social media to recruit and enrol people into their criminal activities. We realised that post Covid-19 would bring about a spike because people have become more desperate, some are losing their lives and becoming more vulnerable to fake, juicy promisee.
On a lighter note, how have you evolved as a northern woman?There is a misconception when it comes to the northern woman. Every culture has their own barriers and restrictions, bondages and their own expectations but I feel it doesn’t differ whether you are from the north or the south or from America, a woman is a woman and she has a lot to battle in the society from the home to politics and nation- building. I had challenges coming up but all those challenges are not associated to me as a person but what women face. However, no matter the challenges, a woman should strive to rise above them, carry your family and community along and embrace a worthy cause. Once you have a good vision, people would buy into it and help you to achieve it.


How did you evolve politically?


As a politician, I started from the grassroots. My journey was successful because I do  politics and do campaign of idealogy; so I enlisted people as partners and stakeholders in the project. They knew exactly that they had a role to play and they knew what their role was in achieving our goal. It was also a campaign of enlightenment, I enlightened people to know what should be available for them, what is deserving of them and how to increase their beliefs and deserve levels.
Do you think more women can get into leadership positions in the coming elections?
Yes they can, if you look at the numbers of women who declared interest in 2018, it was encouraging and that is how it starts. It’s a process and we are on the right path and I know it’s just a matter of time everything would fall into place.


Do you believe in gender equality?


Yes, I do believe in gender parity and I want to commend this government for carrying women along. Strategic positions of trust is handled by women, the biggest ministries are being handled by women. Take for instance, the humanitarian ministry is handled by a woman. The finance ministry also is handled by a woman, NAPTIP is handled by a young woman like myself  and more women in other positions at various parastatals. We must commend this government for involving women and I know a lot of reforms need to be done to perfect this. Sometimes people come out and they declare interest in the things that they expect quick results, sometimes it’s quick and sometimes it’s not but as long as the vision is clear and intentions is pure, good things would happen.


The poor representation of women has been blamed on lack of mentorship by women. How do you carry other women along?


I believe that there is a dearth when it comes to the right role models and mentorship for young women.When I ran for a position in 2018, I realised that there was no platform for me to align with, so myself and my co-founder launched the Beehive Initiative so that we can give women the platform to mentor each other but afterwards, I realised that there were a few organisations I could have just aligned with but I think women are becoming more aware and are really doing the necessary and many government and private women groups are doing their best in mentoring women. If you look at Nigeria’s political system, it is getting better and stronger; so my hope for the future is very strong because I know that we are going to evolve into a nation whereby there is gender parity and recognition for every voice to be on the decision making table.


On that note what would be your advise to the women in particular?

Nigeria, particularly Women should be more watchful, be their brothers keeper and walk closely with NAPTIP. This is because the trafficking criminals lives amongst us, so we must be at alert. On our part, we are working hard to curtail trafficking in persons. We should believe in our country and be part of the development process of nation building and make sure we contribute our own quota to national development. I strongly call on parents to ensure adequate protection of their children to avoid incidences of kidnapping, abduction, trafficking and other crimes against children. Parents need to watch their children closely and not expose them to the risk of being easily accessible to traffickers and other criminal minds.

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