NAPTIP secures 10 convictions in A/Ibom in 2019

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says it secured 10 convictions out of over 50 cases prosecuted across the zone in 2019.

The Zonal Commander of Uyo Zonal office, Mr Nduka Nwawwenne, said yesterday in an interview in Uyo that the 10 convicts of human trafficking were serving jail terms in various correctional centres across the country.

Nwawwenne stated that 20 cases were currently in court at various stages of hearing, while 56 were under investigation.

The zonal commander stated that the agency trained 18 victims and equipped 10 with starter packs during the period under review.

He added that the empowerment training of victims of human trafficking would be a continuous exercise, adding that if victims were not empowered, they risked being retrafficked again.

He said the agency would continue to collaborate with stakeholders and other security agencies to ensure that human trafficking in the country was reduced to the barest minimum.

“It is important to talk about empowering victims, because if we don’t empower them they stand the risk of being re-trafficked. So, we had training and empowerment for 18 victims of human trafficking,” he said.

He further explained that over 50 victims of human trafficking were rescued, saying “the training was for 18 of them and out of the 18 that were trained, 10 of them were properly empowered with equipment; and constantly we do monitoring to avoid the equipment being sold out.”