News Investigators/ The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in Jigawa Command rescued 147 voctims of human trafficking in the state in 2025.
The NAPTIP Commander in the state, Abdulkadir Turajo, made this known while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse, on Tuesday.
Mr Turajo said the victims had been reunited with their families after they were given comprehensive counselling.
He said the command also secured the conviction of a 30-year-old Nigerien, Hassan Alhassan of Garin Idi Village, Niger Republic.
The commander said Alhassan was convicted for attempting to transfer a male victim from Kano Sate through the Maigatari border in Jigawa to libya, through Magarya in Zinder State of Niger Republic.
“We recorded 37 cases of trafficking. We recorded 11 border area interceptions and referrals by the Nigeria Immigration Service which involved a total of 97 persons,”the commander said.
According to him, the command conducted a total of 49 sensitisation campaigns in endemic communities in the state, including schools, markets, mosques, churches and motor parks.
“Trafficking in persons has re-emerged in recent times as a modern form of slavery.
“It is a crime which includes all acts involved in the recruitment, transportation (within or across borders) purchase, sale, transfer, and harboring of persons, involving the use of deception, coercive or debt bondage for the purpose of placing or holding a person in forced or bonded labor or in slavery like conditions.
“Jigawa is a source and one of the major international routes of human trafficking to Europe and Middle East through Niger and the Chad-Sudan-Saudi Arabia axis.
The state is also known for high records of cases of sexual abuses and is a major source for internal trafficking for labour.
“It is therefore pertinent that all hands must be on deck to support NAPTIP Jigawa command in order to effectively tackle and address the problems in the state,” Turajo said.
He said the consequences of human trafficking, was one of the world’s most hazardous and notorious crimes and a threat to national security and public safety.
“It also fuels public sector corruption, irregular migration, undermines human capital development potentials, social break down and exclusion, dearth of capable manpower, human degradation, abuse of human rights, spread of diseases, tarnishing of national image and diversifies into a larger organized crimes like drugs trafficking, arm conflicts, terrorism, kidnapping, money laundering and other associated financial crimes.
The commander further stated that NAPTIP serves as the Federal Government’s primary law enforcement agency entrusted with the formidable task of combating human trafficking in the country.
He listed the core mandates of the agency as enforcement and administration;coordination of all laws pertaining trafficking in persons, prevention and eradication of human trafficking, establishment of preventive and regulatory machinery, investigation of all cases of trafficking in persons, protection and assistance to trafficked persons.
Others are; awareness and education, international cooperation, legal compliance with bilateral and multilateral treaties and conventions adopted by Nigeria, collaboration, monitoring trans-border activities related to trafficking in persons and enforcement of 2019 control of activities regulations.
While appreciating the Jigawa government and all its agencies for support and cooperation, the commander specifically. lauded the commitment, interest and support of Gov. Umar Namadi to the agency’s war against human trafficking in the state.
“In the same vein, the command extends its gratitude to all the security and law enforcement agencies in the state.
The working relationship has been good and making the fight against human trafficking and other related crimes across the state easier.
“We also appreciate other critical stakeholders such as members of the Jigawa Anti-human trafficking taskforce, traditional rulers, religious leaders, the Media, CSOs most especially those under NACTAL for their support and cooperation.
NAN