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Tag: National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP)

  • NAPTIP arrests another notorious trafficker in Edo

    NAPTIP arrests another notorious trafficker in Edo

    The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) said it has arrested a 45-year-old woman, Rhoda Omorogie, alias Mama Bobo, for her alleged involvement in the trafficking of young girls from Benin to Europe.

    The NAPTIP Head of Press and Public Relations, Mr. Josiah Emerole, said in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja that the operatives of the agency in Benin Zonal Command arrested the suspect in an early morning operation on Tuesday.

    Emerole explained that Omorogie, a nurse by profession and an indigene of Oredo Local Government Area of Edo, was nabbed by the operatives at about 5 a.m. at her residence located at No. 65 Osayande St. off Upper Sakponda Road, Benin City.

    He said that the suspected trafficker had been in hiding since June 16 following the arrest of one of her gang members, Monday Ugbo, by NAPTIP operatives and rescue of three victims.

    According to him, the “notorious trafficker’’ is presently in NAPTIP’s custody for interrogation.

    The spokesperson stated that preliminary reports showed that Omorogie has over the years been involved in the recruitment of young women from Benin to other places including Europe.

    He said the report also revealed that she was connected to the recruitment of the three victims that were rescued in Benin at the weekend.

    Emerole quoted the Director-General of NAPTIP, Mrs. Julie Oka-Donli, saying that it is disheartening to see women involved in the “disgusting trade of human beings”.

    She however stressed the need for people to be more careful while dealing with traffickers.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recall Ugbo was nabbed by NAPTIP operatives at the weekend and rescued three victims from his residence located at number 72 Osayande St., Upper Sakponba Road, Benin City, Edo.

    Ugbo was arrested in the process of receiving a registration fee of N50,000 he had demanded from a prospective victim and preparing to take the victims to a River for oath taking.

  • 175 Nigerians ‘voluntarily’ return from Libya

    175 Nigerians ‘voluntarily’ return from Libya

    Another batch of One Hundred and Seventy-five (175) Nigerians voluntarily returned from Libya on Tuesday aboard a chartered Nouvelair aircraft with registration number TS-INA.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the aircraft landed at 7.50p.m at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

    The returnees were made up of of 34 males, 122 females, 10 children and nine infants.

    They were brought back by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Nigerian Embassy in Libya.

    The returnees were received at the Hajj Camp area of the airport by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.

    Also on ground to receive them were officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

    Addressing newsmen, Air Commodore Paul Ohemu, Director, Search and Rescue, NEMA, said the agency in collaboration with the IOM was working to stem irregular migration and return stranded Nigerians from Libya.

    Ohemu advised Nigerians to stay back and contribute their quota to the socio-economic development of the country.

    “There are a lot of things you can do in Nigeria here.

    “You don’t have to travel outside the country in search of greener pastures.

    “My advice to parents is to keep tab on their children and to ensure that they know where their children are going and not to be deceived by phantom promises,” he said.

    Ohemu said NEMA and some state governments had put various schemes in place to help rehabilitate and reintegrate the returnees into the society.

    Also speaking, Mr Joseph Famakinwa, Zonal Director, NAPTIP, Lagos Zone, said the Federal Government had intensified efforts to curb human trafficking and bring traffickers to book.

    “NAPTIP has sent 315 Nigerians to prison for human trafficking with a total conviction of 265.

    “Our advice to parents is that they should not allow their children to fall into the hands of traffickers, ” he warned.

    On her part, Ms Julia Burpee, Public Information Officer, IOM, said the organisation had facilated the return of over 1,170 Nigerians from Libya since February.

    She said the organisation would assist the returnees to get back on their feet and would provide assistance to others willing to leave the North African country.

  • Miss Nigeria canvasses life imprisonment for rapists

    Miss Nigeria canvasses life imprisonment for rapists

    Worried by the incessant cases of rape, the 22-year-old current Miss Nigeria, Chioma Obiadi, has advised the Federal Government to enact a law that will sentence anybody found to have committed rape  life imprisonment to reduce the menace.

    Obiadi, the 40th Nigerian beauty queen, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos during a visit by the Miss Nigeria Organisation that, “Cases of rape are on the increase now in the country.

    “In fact it is become so alarming.

    “ I feel that we are recording increased cases because the perpetrators know that they will be imprisoned for few years.

    “This, I feel, is not stringent enough.

    “When these rapists know that they will be sentenced to life imprisonment or death, the crime will definitely decline,’’ she said.

    According to her, people convicted of rape by constituted court of law were usually sent to life imprisonment with no option of fine in the United Kingdom and other developed countries.

    This had scared intending criminals from committing the offence, she said.

    Obiadi called on security agencies to always apprehend culprits instead of the victims suffering in disgrace as the issue was all about the dignity of womanhood.

    The beauty queen said that the identities of the culprits in rape cases should be made public, while the identities of the victims are protected so that the society would not stigmatise them.

    “Media houses should project the rapists rather than the victims, it is the rapist that should be stigmatised and not the poor girl or lady who had the misfortune of being raped,” she said.

    She, however, blamed some parents, especially the mothers, who would not pay adequate attention to the needs of their daughters.

    She said that mothers should be vigilant in monitoring their children’s dress code and how they relate with the public.

    “Some parents are accomplice in this menace; they should be concerned about their daughters’ movements and body languages from time to time.

    “We should return to our cultural and traditional values that promote decent dressing,” she said.

    Obiadi also appealed to Nigerians to always integrate victims of rape into the society rather than stigmatizing them for a crime they knew nothing about.

    Obiadi added that those who sexually assault minors and aged women should be sent to psychiatric hospitals where their brains would be examined.

    Miss Nigeria also said that child labour and trafficking were caused by parents who wanted to get rich quickly by enslaving their children.

    “Better-life syndrome is a major gateway that makes the parents to lure their children into trafficking and abuse.

    “Such parents should be exposed and jailed.

    “The media in conjunction with National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) should put more pressures on them, so that they can be arrested for prosecution.

    “Any father or mother caught in the act, locally or internationally, should not be spared, they should be given stringent penalties,” she said.

  • Senate to investigate illegal Sahara migration

    Senate to investigate illegal Sahara migration

    The Senate on Wednesday mandated its committees on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora to investigate causes of rising migration across the Sahara and Mediterranean Sea to Europe.

    It charged the committees to proffer solutions to the problem.

    The upper chamber also called on the Federal Government to strengthen the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Nigerian Immigration Services to take measures to prevent trafficking in persons.

    This followed a motion by the Deputy Chief Whip, Sen. Francis Alimikhena, entitled “Trans-Sahara-Europe Crisis’’.

    In the motion, Alimikhena said that migration by Nigerians and other Africans through illegal routes across the Sahara and Mediterranean had resulted in colossal loss of lives over the years.

    He said that Nigerians often embarked on illegal and irregular migration by finding their route through Libya, Morocco and Algeria.

    “The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) report of 2016 revealed that more than 5,070 people were estimated to have died on migratory routes around the world.

    “The Mediterranean alone recorded 3,870 casualties out of which 2,000 were from the Central Mediterranean.

    “In view of the fact that many Nigerians are involved in irregular migration, the IOM made Nigeria and Iraq a case study in one of their researches, the result of which was mind-boggling in addition to the tragic losses of life.

    “Also, a substantial number of victims are not recovered and even those recovered are buried with at best, a number and not a name.

    “It is important to emphasise here that each unidentified migrant represents a missing person for a family that lives in perpetual grief without certainty of the whereabouts of their loved ones.

    “This phenomenon is aggravated by the activities of unrepentant human traffickers who deceive unsuspecting Nigerians with promises of leading them to greener pastures only to sell them as sex slaves.

    “At times, they even harvest their body organs for money,’’ he said.

    The lawmaker called for reverse of the trend and the inhuman treatment suffered by Nigerian migrant in the hands of Immigration officials in neighbouring countries.

    In his contribution, the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, commended the sponsor of the motion.

    He said that it was important to use the parliament as a platform to let the youth to know that there was no job available in Europe for them, stressing that the future of the youth lay in Africa.

    However, Ekweremadu charged leaders to take up the responsibility of providing enabling environment for the youth to grow.

    “As leaders, we owe them the responsibility to provide for them not only for today but for tomorrow. It is our responsibility to be creative enough to provide job opportunities for our people.

    “ Emphasis is being placed on agriculture. Yes, it is good but commercial agriculture has made it impossible for few people to feed the nation and so that cannot take care of all the youths that are unemployed.

    “We must make conscious effort with the private sector to provide factories and industries all over Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

    “We also need to lay emphasis on ICT to discourage them from taking this risk to migrate to Europe because they are our greatest assets,’’ he said.

    Sen. Shehu Sani (APC-Kaduna), while supporting the motion, said that it was a dangerous trend that had led to human trafficking, terrorism and drug trafficking.

    He said, “Trans-Sahara-Europe migration is a reality, a reality that has affected nations in the sub-region and in the East African sub-region.

    “According to statistics from International Organisation for Immigration, over 4,500 Africans drown in the Mediterranean Sea in their attempt to cross to the Europe. This is alarming.

    “It is a moral duty for us as nation and as a parliament to intervene to see that our young ones stop crossing the Sahara to Libya and Algeria in an attempt to reach Italy.

    “It is of note that just last week about 40 West Africans mainly from Ghana and Nigeria were buried along the Sahara and we can’t fold our arms.’’

    Ekweremadu called for institutional framework and multi-national joint task force to tackle the menace.

    In his remarks, the President of the Senate, Dr Bukola Saraki, said that the legislature had the moral responsibility to intervene in the matter.

    “I read just last week that we lost some Nigerians. Every time you travel to European countries and meet with their officials, the major concern is this issue of migration.

    “So I think we ought to work on multilateral agreement to address this problem,’’ he said.

  • UK deports 35 Nigerians for immigration offences

    UK deports 35 Nigerians for immigration offences

    The Government of the United Kingdom on Wednesday deported 35 Nigerians for committing immigration-related offences in the country.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deportees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMlA) Lagos at about 5.50 a.m.

    The deportees, comprising 30 males and five females, were brought back aboard a chartered Titanic Airways aircraft with registration Number: G-POWO.

    The spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command, DSP Joseph Alabi, confirmed the development to NAN.

    The deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.

    Also on ground to receive them were officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

    NAN gathered that the deportees were profiled by the immigration authorities and were each given a stipend to facilitate their transportation to their respective states.

    It would be recalled that the British authorities had on March 31 deported 23 Nigerians for similar reasons.

  • Three women in court over child exploitation

    Three women – Florence Yakubu, Bola Umaru and Eunice Adegunsoye – were arraigned in Lagos on Wednesday for allegedly subjecting a 16-year-old girl to child exploitation.

    The accused are facing a five-count charge bordering on child trafficking before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos.

    The trio were arraigned by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

    The Prosecutor, Mrs Idayat Balogun, told the court that the accused committed the alleged offences between March 2015 and March 2016.

    She said that Yakubu (35) gave out one Miss Victory Imazokeke as a domestic worker to Umaru (43) and Adegunsoye (61), with the knowledge that the girl would be exploited.

    Balogun also said that the accused, who employed Imazokeke as a domestic worker, actually exploited her.

    “The accused exploited and denied to pay the 16-year-old girl for the services she rendered while working for them as a domestic servant,” she said.

    The prosecutor said that the offences contravened Sections 23 (1) (b) and 27 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.

    The accused persons denied the charges.

    Counsel to the three accused, Aiyefen Obuch and O. O. Adeleye, made an oral application, urging the court to admit the accused to bail on liberal terms.

    Justice Hadizat Shagari asked the counsel to the accused persons to put their application in writing.

    She remanded the accused in prison and adjourned the case until May 18 for hearing and ruling on bail application.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that three women busted into tears as the remand order was pronounced.

     

  • FG to name, shame traffickers says NAPTIP chief

    The Federal Government would employ the name and shame policy to ensure that those who get involved in trafficking do not have a hiding place anywhere across the globe, Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Julie Okah-Donli, has said.

    She said this at her maiden press briefing with reporters at the headquarters of the agency in Abuja.

    Okah-Donli also said she would appeal to the government to expand the whistle blowing policy to accommodate the crime of human trafficking.

    According to her, if the whistle blowing policy is succeeding in the fight against corruption, it should also succeed when deployed to detect and prevent trafficking in persons.

    She said: “We will employ the name and shame policy to ensure that those who get involved do not have a hiding place anywhere across the globe.

    “I will appeal to government to kindly expand the scope of the whistle blowing policy to accommodate the crime of human trafficking. If this policy is succeeding in the fight against corruption, it should also succeed when deployed to detect and prevent trafficking in persons.

    “We must do all to protect the lives and dignity of our next generation who are being destroyed now by criminally minded individuals.

    “It is a known fact that human trafficking has moved from the era of analogue and person-person recruitment of victims to a well-orchestrated criminal network that is designed to deceive even the very best operatives.

    “This is why the agency during my tenure shall move with all vigour, techniques, skills and the expertise to nab any human trafficker, from the point of conceiving the idea to the point of exploitation.

    “Efforts shall be made to equip operatives of the agency to detect and proactively burst any human trafficking action form the bud. The era of trading on our promising youths as commodities is over and all machinery must be put in place to ensure that our youths have a secure future.

    “We shall increase our surveillance and intelligence around the known endemic communities and villages coupled with a reloaded sensitization and public enlightenment campaign.

    “We shall increase our advocacy to policy makers and other arms of government like the legislators, judiciary and the civil society organizations for the purpose of enhancing accelerated dispensation of justice.”

    She said the agency since inception has 3,407 cases and rescued 10, 685 victims.

    “A critical analysis of the overall performance of the agency shows that since its inception, it has received a total of 4,755 cases, investigated 3, 407 while a huge number of 10, 685 victims have been rescued. In the same vein, the agency has convicted a total number of 321 persons,” she added.

     

  • UK deports 23 Nigerians for immigration offences

    UK deports 23 Nigerians for immigration offences

    The Government of the United Kingdom has deported 23 Nigerians for committing immigration-related offences in the country.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the deportees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMlA) Lagos at about 6.a.m on Friday.

    The deportees,who are all males, were brought back in a chartered aircraft.

    DSP Joseph Alabi, the Spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command, confirmed the development to NAN.

    The deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), and the Police.

    Also on ground to receive them were officials  of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).

    NAN gathered that the deportees were profiled by immigration authorities and given stipends to facilitate their transportation to their respective states.

    The Italian Government on March 8, deported 37 Nigerians from the country for similar reasons.

  • Davido/Sophia: Ola Balogun flays Dele Momodu’s reconciliation claims

    Davido/Sophia: Ola Balogun flays Dele Momodu’s reconciliation claims

     
    As the dust raised by the child ‘abduction’ saga involving Hip hop star, David Adekeke,  aka Davido and his erstwhile lover and mother of his child, Sophia Momodu is about to settle,  Nigerian filmmaker, Ola Balogun has continued to probe Dele Momodu’s involvement in the matter.
    Momodu, Publisher of Ovation magazine and Sophia’s uncle had told The Nation on Thursday that the two families, after a ‘marathon meeting’ have decided to ‘move forward together’.
    This development followed the appearance of Davido, on Wednesday, at the office of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and related offences, to clear his name of the child ‘abduction’ accusation brought against him by the mother of his child.
    Davido was said to have denied the allegation of abduction, saying he was only taking the baby to the American Hospital, Dubai, for treatment, following alleged cannabis infection from her mother.
    This was just as Sophia is demanding for the original copy of the purported medical report indicating she that she tested positive to cannabis, as uploaded online by Davido recently.
    Sophia who has denied that she takes cannabis has written the Clina-Lancet Laboratories, demanding the original copy of the result purportedly issued by them. 
    In a letter written by her lawyer, Gbolaga Ajayi, of S. O. Ajayi & Co, and dated January 5, Sophia said she saw the result of the purported medical test for the first time on the Internet.
    “Our client gained knowledge of this pathology report that your company issued concerning her for the first time on the social media on Sunday, January 3, 2016. We have our client’s instruction to request you to promptly furnish her with the original copy of the pathology report, as the said report was never given to her.
    “In view of the sensitive issues that have emanated from the said report, which are still trending on social and print media, we have our client’s instruction that you should also provide a detailed report on the process/procedure that your company adopted in carrying out the medical check on our client, which yielded the report that was issued about our client by your company,” says the letter.
    However, Balogun who, in  letter earlier written to The Nation, took sides with Davido after reading the singer’s account of the incident was decried by Momodu who claimed that the filmmaker’s position on the matter was partial and made out of personal vendetta.
    Momodu described Balogun’s input as a malicious attack on him and Sophia without caring to find out what led to the present debacle. “I had the highest regards for Dr Balogun and had always responded to his calls and text messages to my London line most times. I wish to apologise to him publicly if I have not been able to attend to his certain demands but it is regrettable that he would retaliate through this vengeful manner,” he said.
    According Momodu, “It is disheartening that while many well-meaning Nigerians have stepped in to intervene in the face-off between music superstar Mr. David Adeleke, aka DAVIDO, and the mother of his baby Ms Sophia Momodu, my cousin, a senior citizen and film-maker, Dr Ola Balogun, has chosen to cast aspersions on me for reasons best known to both of us.”
    Feeling slighted, Balogun, in another letter to The Nation wants Momodu to come out clear on his suggestive statement, saying; “I am not at all amused by Dele Momodu’s insinuation that I am somehow engaged in some kind of vendetta against him…I hereby challenge Mr. Dele Momodu to PLEASE publish for public consumption whatever he claims are “demands” that I supposedly addressed to him.”
    Insisting that the Momodus have no have no right to demand being carried-along in the travel plans and purported treatment of the child, Imade, Balogon said, “I note that he has so far failed to produce any evidence that he or his wife have ever made any contribution in cash or kind to young Imade’s upkeep.
    “The issue is: What gives Mr. and Mrs Dele Momodu the right to intervene in the life of a child whose upbringing and welfare they have never been known to make any contribution to?
    “Dele Momodu should please address this central issue and stop throwing around meaningless phrases like “family reconciliation”.
    “Who is reconciling who and for WHAT purpose?”
    Meanwhile, it is not clear yet, whether or not the litigations will be dropped following the recent family intervention, as Momodu said he couldn’t spell out details yet because, according to him, “we need to clear out some cobwebs.”