PREMIUM TIMES
Chairperson of the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, Juliet Okah, has alleged that some law enforcement agencies in Nigeria are involved in the “organised” human trafficking in the country.
Ms Okah said this on Monday in Abuja during the BBC Africa Eye screening of a recently published documentary, “Nigeria’s Miracle Baby Scammers.”
She did not, however, name the agencies allegedly involved.
She said human trafficking is a complicated and dangerous issue, noting that the involvement of the enforcement agencies, poses a major challenge in confronting the menace.
“Trafficking is a very complicated disease. It is very dangerous. And the challenges are so numerous. When we talk about some of these challenges, we have issues where even the law enforcement agencies and all the systems are involved.
“So, we cannot rule out corruption in terms of evolution. Then we are also talking about the lack of cooperation and stimulation. For example, a law enforcement agency can get hold of victims and traffickers and rather than hand them over to the agency (NAPTIP), they would rather not.
“So, you lose some of the information. You lose some of the evidence. You won’t be able to go after these guys,” she said.
Ms Okah, a former director general of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), also said apart from the security agencies, there are other high-profile individuals involved in trafficking who are protected everywhere.
“There are also other cases of high-profile traffickers as well who have protection everywhere. We have cases where we’re getting calls, right? There are so many,” she said.
She noted that the frequent changing of NAPTIP directors also affects the operation of the agency. According to her, in some cases, a “new director is not properly informed and avoids talking to the former one.”
The 30-minute video documentary exposes the activities of certain scammers who exploit the vulnerability of infertile women by posing as doctors or nurses. These scammers convince women that they have a solution to their infertility.
It also reveals the deception behind cryptic pregnancy in Nigeria, where many women are unaware that the child they receive is trafficked.
