NAPTIP vow to unmask unregistered labour recruiters in Nigeria, rescues 33 trafficked girls
From Boniface Okoro, Umuahia
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has vowed to unmask and prosecute unscrupulous unregistered labour recruiters behind illegal recruitment and trafficking of Nigerian ladies to the Middle East where they are enslaved and deployed as sex toys.
Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, made the vow after the agency had rescued 22 victims of human trafficking and nine under-aged girls suspected to be victims of sexual exploitation all in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
NAPTIP’s Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, said in a statement made available to The Oraclev Today newspapers that penultimate week, revealed that the agency,
with the support of partners, intercepted 13 Iraq-bound females suspected to be victims of human trafficking en route to Baghdad, Iraq, for sexual and labour exploitation.
NAPTIP said it believes that notorious unregistered labour recruiters which deceive Nigerian girls and deliver them to their partners-in-crime in the Middle East.
The ladies, aged between 19 to 39 years old and incepted at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, were allegedly deceived with promise of $250 monthly salary and recruited by some faceless, unregistered Labour Recruiters suspected to be agents of a larger criminal labour recruiting gang operating between Nigeria and some Middle East countries.
However, a clear evidence that the victims were in for a raw deal and uncertain future was that they were issued 60 days visa and yet were made to sign a labour agreement of two years with their traffickers. They were rescued shortly before their departure for Iraq.
Also, NAPTIP operatives sealed up a popular three-star hotel located at the ever-busy community of Kwali in Kwali Area Council of the FCT, rescued 11under-aged girls suspected to be used for sexual expedition and arrested the hotel owner.
The rescue of the under-aged girls came barely one month after operatives of NAPTIP burst a private apartment located inside one of the highbrow estates in the heart of Abuja and rescued nine pregnant girls suspected to be victims of human trafficking.
Adekoye narrated that the interception of the Iraq-bound girls followed a tip-off by some concerned partners who noticed the unusual movement of some unknown faces at the departure lounge of the Airport in the company of some timidly-looking girls, all chorusing the same answer to different questions about their destination, and immediately alerted NAPTIP.
He said the Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, personally witnessed the interception of the first batch of five girls at the airport while on her way out of Abuja for an official engagement at Adamawa.
The obviously worried DG, maintained the girls were deceived by their traffickers.
The statement quoted the NAPTIP DG as saying: “The case at hand is pathetic because these girls were deceived and recruited for a supposed job in Baghdad by unlicensed labour recruiters who are not known to any constituted authority in Nigeria.
“This implies that should anything happen to these girls; we will not be able to hold anyone responsible because they are undocumented labourers. Also, they were issued 60 days visa and yet signed a labour agreement of two years with their traffickers.
“The implication of this is that as soon as their visas expire, they are at the mercy of the master and lose all legal rights to demand anything, including their legitimate salary.”
According to the DG, investigation has revealed that the trafficked victims would be paid a sum of $250 as monthly salary by their task master, out of which they will remit four months’ salary to the Agent here in Nigeria and another huge sum to the Agent in Iraq.
“From the testimonies of scores of victims who passed through the same condition, they were never paid regularly as expected, maybe four or five months only for the agreed contract period of two years. In fact, the major issue with their masters is when they ask for their salary to be paid.
“It is painful that while unspecified numbers of victims are in those volatile and war-torn destination countries seeking help to be rescued, these are happily embarking on a journey to the unknown.
“We are seriously worried about the situation because some who were rescued recently came home with life-threatening medical conditions while others escaped with a life-threatening wound and everlasting scars inflicted on them by their masters,” Binta Adamu Bello lamented.
“We cannot close our eyes and allow these ones to join the statistics of stranded victims who are calling through social media for help. We are also on the lookout for the unscrupulous unregistered recruiters who are behind all these scenarios,” she added.
The DG commended the Management of Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, with particular reference to the Airport Manager and his Security personnel; officials of the various airlines and sister law-enforcement agencies who provided one form of assistance or the other to NAPTIP. She urged for more cooperation to rescue Nigerian girls from being deceived by “mindless traffickers.”
