By Ayodele Oni
This year’s World Day against Human Trafficking and the 20th anniversary of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) was held on Saturday in Abuja with a warning to Nigerians to beware of traffickers using sporting platforms to traffic in youths.
NAPTIP Director-General, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, gave the warning during a novelty match with some agency’s partners to mark the celebration.
She stated that “Many young people want to be football maestros like Kanu Nwakwo and Daniel Amokachi, but traffickers are out there planning to prey on the hopes and aspirations of these young people.
“Let youths be aware; let parents be aware that there are preys out there waiting to extort their ambitions.
“NAPTIP has the powers to regulate and to issue clearance to travel agencies, tour operators and sporting recruitment agencies.
“Potential sportsmen and women are at liberty to demand for NAPTIP clearance from the recruitment agencies before engaging with them,.”
The match was held between NAPTIP and development partners among which were the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development and the International Organisation for Migration.
In his remarks, Deputy Country Representative of UNODC, Mr Danilo Campisi, noted that human trafficking was a major problem in Nigeria.
He observed, however, that NAPTIP had made tremendous progress to curb the menace as it had made arrests and secured court conviction of some traffickers.
The NAPTIP football team won the novelty match 2-1 after 30 minutes of play.
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