EU Earmarks €25m to Fight Human Trafficking in Nigeria, ECOWAS

Says many Nigerians dying in Mediterranean Sea

As the world grapples with migration crisis in Asia, Middle East and Africa, the European Union (EU) yesterday earmarked €25 million to assist Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) tackle incessant cases of human trafficking. This was made known at the ongoing EU Funded Project Support for Free Movement of Persons and Migration in West Africa (FMM) in Abuja.

The project is an initiative of the Demand Driven Facility for National Institutions (DDF) in support of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

Speaking to journalists, the Programme Manager of FMM, Geertrui Lanneau, said the project was aimed at addressing the existing gaps in migration that revolves around human trafficking, slavery and prostitution abroad.

Lanneau told THISDAY that “the total funding for the five-year programme is €25 million for Nigeria and the entire ECOWAS region.”

On the numbers of Nigerians who have crossed into Europe, she maintained that though “it is very difficult to give precise figures,” many Nigerians had died while crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

To that end, Lanneau stated that in order to track such persons, the EU had conceptualised a programme tagged “Missing Migrants” for those “who did not survived the journey”.

Also, Project Head, International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), Emmerentia Erasmus said: “What is important is that majority of ECOWAS citizens are caught up in the global migration crisis,” adding that, “there are also legal frameworks to protect the rights of migrants in Europe.”

Erasmus explained that the project was very significant given that it provides a viable platform to train resource persons in the fight against human trafficking.

Also, NAPTIP Director General, Mrs Beatrice Jedy-Agba, said: “The support of the project to NAPTIP is in two components: training resources centre and development of curricula for basic and senior secondary schools with the National Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC).

“We believe strongly that at the end of these meetings and the entire project, we will be in a better position to effectively deliver on our mandate of increasing institutional capacity in the fight against human trafficking.”

The NAPTIP DG, who was represented by the Assistant Director in the agency, Josiah Emerole, explained that the current realities and trends involving the migration crisis called for concerted efforts across board to address the challenges in the West Africa sub-region.

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