The Executive Secretary, National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) Mrs Beatrice Jedy – Agba, has expressed concern that Nigeria and Republic of Benin remain sources as well as transit and destination points for trafficked persons. A total of 384 children, according to her, were rescued from child – labour in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
Jedy – Agba added that since 2007, a total of 5,919 trafficked children were rescued and rehabilitated and are now receiving formal and vocational education at Zakpota in Benin while 60 others were enrolled in schools in Abeokuta.
The NAPTIP Executive Secretary (Nigeria)who spoke yesterday while signing a Communique at the 9th Nigerian / Benin Joint Technical Committee on Trafficking in Persons, said the affected children were all discovered as child workers in quarries located in Abeokuta.
The children, she added were later taken to Zakpota in Benin Republic for rehabilitation as they were all citizens of that country while their parents who originally gave the children away are now being made look for alternative sources of livelihood instead of using their kids as items for sale to earn income.
“The 384 children have been withdrawn from Abeokuta and taken to Zakpota. This programme also involves rehabilitation, repatration and reintegration. Sometimes when we go to Benin Republic, we find Nigerian children there involved in child labour. Even the parents of these children are supported to find alternative means of livelihood instead of looking up to their children as sources of income.
“Those who traffick children from Benin Republic down to Nigeria are often Beninoise themselves. As such, when they are captured, we hand them over to the Benin Republic authorities for prosecution. As such, we don’t have statistics at hand for the number of such arrests made,” she said.
In the communique which was equally signed by the Beninoise counterpart, Mr. Emile Ekpinse ( Deputy Secretary – General, Ministry of Family, Social Affairs, National Solidarity, Handicapped and old people, Republic of Benin), the two countries resolved to share information and intelligence to enable them arrest and prosecute human traffickers.
They stressed the need to boost the activities of watch groups in border communities such as Seme, Owode, Idiroko, Igolo, Ilara, Alagbe by equipping them with minimum tools.
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NAPTIP rescues 384 children in Ogun