EFCC Declares War Against Human Traffickers

By   www.eaunde.blogspot.com

- Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of the EFCC, has stated that the commission has resolved to go after human traffickers 

- Magu disclosed that the EFCC was prepared to go after human traffickers because the commission strongly believed that trafficking is an aspect of corruption, and corruption is the greatest enemy of Nigeria 

- The DG of the anti-trafficking agency, Julie Okah-Donli, also requested for the assistance of the EFCC in confiscating assets of traffickers 

The acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, has expressed the commission’s resolve to go after human traffickers, NAN reports. 

Magu said this when a delegation from the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) visited him in Abuja. 

The spokesman of the commission, Wilson Uwujaren, who reported the visit in a statement, said the NAPTIP delegation was led by its Director-General, Julie Okah-Donli. Magu said the anti-graft agency had jurisdiction over human trafficking, which he said, was an offshoot of corruption.

He stated: “We are prepared to go after human traffickers, because we strongly believe that it is an aspect of corruption, and corruption is the greatest enemy of Nigeria. “Corruption is the reason why young Nigerians are risking their lives walking through the Mediterranean up to Spain and other European countries in search of greener pasture. “It is a very sad situation, and we must change the trend by ensuring that we join hands to fight corruption, as this is the only solution to the ills militating against our country’s development." 

While calling for NAPTIP’s partnership in the fight against corruption, Magu assured Okah-Donli of the EFCC’s support in combating the increasing cases of ‘organ harvesting’ involving Nigerians. “EFCC has an enormous task in the fight against corruption, and NAPTIP is also a stakeholder in the fight, so we also need your assistance and collaboration,” he said.

Okah-Donli, who said the visit was part of the agency’s familiarisation efforts, used the opportunity to highlight NAPTIP’s strides in combating human trafficking in the country. According to her, the agency has busted a number of criminal activities, recorded 331 convictions since 2004, with various other ongoing cases at advance stages in courts. She added that NAPTIP had rescued many trafficked youths who were being rehabilitated and given a new lease of life. 

Okah-Donli said: “Organ trafficking, which is now becoming a big business, is another form of human trafficking." She said many youths were being lured into it and they become afraid to come out to tell their stories. The DG requested for assistance of the EFCC in confiscating assets of traffickers, and also in the area of training and developing its own academy.

Senior priest of the Roman Catholic Church, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, predicted an increase in human trafficking as a result of the rising poverty level in Nigeria occasioned by a slide in the country's economy. 

Onaiyekan, who is the Archbishop of the Abuja diocese of the church, warned the federal government about the current economic challenges, while speaking at the Caritas conference on human trafficking within and from Africa.