One thousand and eighty-five human trafficking victims have been rescued from January to July 2023, the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) has disclosed.
The Public Relations Officer of the zone, Aliyu Kalli, made the disclosure while speaking to journalists, recently.
Kalli said that the 1,085 victims were made up of 932 victims of irregular migration, whom he said, were deported and and handed over to the agency through the international Organisation for Migration in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Agency of Nigeria.
The zonal command’s spokesperson stated that under the period under review, the zone also saved163 victims of human trafficking transported to the Niger Republic and Libya en route to European countries.
Kalli said that the Agency also rescued some victims in Libya, Niger Republic and other countries, adding that 80 percent of victims of human trafficking represented females while 20 percent comprised male victims.
He added that zonal command also organised sensitisation programmes and campaigns against human trafficking and child labour in schools, parks and marketplaces.
The spokesperson also revealed that the zonal command secured 14 convictions of human trafficking for various correctional terms.
He said that NAPTIP in the zone had also set up Anti Human Trafficking Vanguards in six federal government colleges of Kano, Jigawa and Bauchi states, and called on the public to assist the agency with Intelligence Reports to contain the menace of human trafficking in the zone.