Fact finding mission to Nigeria 2009 - Ny i Danmark

National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP)2. Efforts to combat trafficking from Nigeria and IOMs cooperation withNAPTIPIOM explained that NAPTIP is a government agency that receives its funds from the Governmentbudget.Between the years 2000 – 2007 Nigeria developed a holistic counter trafficking response, with anew legal and administrative framework to prevent and prosecute TIP and protect victims of thiscrime. With the establishment of NAPTIP in 2003 law enforcement and the judiciary invested indeveloping an integrated and focused cooperation (joint investigation, and concentration ofjudiciary jurisdiction in the High Courts). The registration of victims through NAPTIP (sinceinception NAPTIP rescued and processed approximately 1,500 victim’s: women and children, girlsand boys) made it possible to develop a better understanding on the dynamics of trafficking in thedifferent states. The number of rescued victims continues to increase every day, thanks to the workof NAPTIP.Records available to IOM demonstrate that the majority of victims assisted through the Lagosshelter are rescued by NAPTIP, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Nigeria Police Force(NPF). Nigerian Embassies abroad is also active in the identification and rescue of victims, such asthe Nigerian Embassy in Moscow. Rescue is not an occasional event but the result of ongoingoperations. The number of rescued trafficked persons referred to the Lagos Shelter is important, andadmissions are almost on a daily basis since December 1 st 2004.Evidence suggests that a growing number of states are affected by the problem as source, transit,destination states, or a mixture of these three components. Prevalent source areas in Nigeria are thefollowing States: Edo, Abia, Akwa Ibom, Ebony, Imo, Enugu, Cross Rivers. The following statesare the most common transit areas: Niger, Lagos, Borno, Sokoto, Cross Rivers. The known internaldestinations are the states of Lagos, Katsina, Ogun, and Kano. However a study recently publishedby NAPTIP suggests that urban settings in the following states are destination areas of internaltrafficking from rural areas: Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja), Anambra, Kano, Kaduna,Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Rivers, Enugu and Osun. 2IOM added that Edo State is a source area for international trafficking, and the endemic localgovernment areas are already known: Oredo, Ikpoba-okha, Ovia North East, Uhunmwonde, Egor,Orhionmwon, Esan North East, Esan Central, Etsako West, Ovia South West.Referring to NIS and NAPTIP IOM explained that the most common external destination countriesfor trafficking in persons from Nigeria are: Italy, United Kingdom, France, Belgium, TheNetherlands, the Republic of Benin, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, Gabon, Niger, Guinea, Togo, Ghana,and Saudi Arabia.Integrated approaches in the area of social protection and prevention started taking shape as agrowing number of victims were rescued, processed through NAPTIP shelters, and returned to thestates of origin (IOM Nigeria counted thirty two States of return). To rationalize service deliveryNAPTIP coordinated the development of a “National Policy on the Protection and Assistance of2 The dynamics and contexts of trafficking in persons: a national perspective, NAPTIP, 2007-2008).7