The federal government has granted approval for the deployment of personnel from the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to various ports in Nigeria, as stated by Dr. Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
This announcement came during Edu’s visit to the Federal Ministry of Interior headquarters in Abuja. According to a statement issued by her Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Rasheed Zubair, the minister emphasized that issues related to internal security, human trafficking, and migration are contributing factors to insecurity, humanitarian challenges, and poverty throughout the country.
Edu further conveyed to the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, that collaboration between their respective ministries would facilitate the acquisition of vital intelligence required for effective humanitarian responses in Nigeria.
She said, “My coming here is to quickly speak with you because your ministry is one of the ministries that will make my job easier. The President is committed to seeing that he reduces the number of persons who are exposed or prone to humanitarian crisis.
“I am saying this because a lot of our work depends on how well you do your work in the Ministry of Interior. We need your support and we need it at all levels. The heads of security agencies here at this meeting will help to work with our team to gather intelligence on how people are moving in and out of our country.
“There are issues of human trafficking, child labour, sexual exploitation, among other things which lead to humanitarian crises. We cannot continue to allow this trend to go unattended, it is not acceptable. We need your support. We need intelligence from you.
“We just got the approval for officers from NAPTIP to be present at the different ports. We need you to know the importance of our collaboration with you on the border. We have to find ways to step up our intelligence in Nigeria. We have too many illegal borders.”
Edu also mentioned that the social register would be enlarged to include widows of paramilitary officers who lost their lives while on duty. Additionally, she stated that the Ministry’s skill acquisition program would be extended to benefit inmates of the Nigeria Correctional Services.
In response, Tunji-Ojo expressed that the inter-ministerial committee, led by the two permanent secretaries from the respective ministries, would collaborate to develop strategies to enhance the effectiveness of their agenda.
