The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) have raised concerns over emerging trends in human trafficking in the country.
NAPTIP and ICMPD raised the alarm at the unveiling of the Anti-Human Trafficking and Violence Against Persons Vanguard Students Clubs at Ihogbe College and Oba Akenzua II Secondary School in Benin City, yesterday.
The initiative, which is an ICMPD’s School Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project (STEAP) is being supported by the Government of the Netherlands.
Speaking at the event, Mr. Sam Offiah, Zonal Commander of NAPTIP in Benin, said that traffickers were increasingly exploiting the digital space to lure young Nigerians into ‘modern-day’ slavery.
“We are seeing an upsurge in internet trafficking. Traffickers now use fake online profiles, phishing tactics and blackmail with nude photos to manipulate and coerce victims.
“Students are now primary targets, that is why we have taken this campaign straight to schools,” he said.
Also speaking, Elvis Ederibhalo, Edo Project Officer of STEAP for ICMPD, stated that 75 percent of the victims rescued in recent surveys were of school age, adding, “this underscores the need for early intervention.
“Since traffickers are recruiting directly from schools, we also decided to start from schools. These clubs will not only educate students, they will also empower them to educate others,” he said.
Ederibhalo further said the project, currently ongoing in Edo, Delta, Enugu, Ogun and Borno states as well as the FCT, had completed one year of its four-year cycle.
The project officer said that apart from the students, teachers and parents were also being trained as stakeholders to tackle the ugly trend.
He said that human trafficking issues had already been built into the national curriculum through ICMPD’s collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Education.
He said that the schools involved in the initiative would receive infrastructural support in order to enforce student participation.
“Sometimes, students get discouraged because there are no basic learning facilities. Through this project, we shall be providing furniture, teaching aids and other materials,” he said.
Principals of the schools, Mr. Ighodaro Egbe and Michael Ipogah, described the project as timely and well-intended.
They said that students had become the prime targets of traffickers and expressed the need for awareness to be taken seriously.