ASABA/Nigeria: The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in collaboration with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), has trained members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) from five pilot states on strategies for community sensitization aimed at preventing human trafficking and violence against persons.
Participants drawn from Delta, Edo, Enugu, Ogun and Benue states attended the three-day capacity-building workshop held in Asaba, Delta State, as part of the implementation strategy of the Schools Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project (STEAP).
The project is funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and implemented by ICMPD in collaboration with NAPTIP to strengthen community awareness and institutional response to human trafficking and related crimes.
Speaking at the workshop, the Commander of the NAPTIP Benin Zonal Command, Mr. Sam Offiah, reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to combating trafficking in persons through prevention, protection of victims and prosecution of offenders.
Offiah identified major challenges in tackling human trafficking to include slow dispensation of justice, weak protection systems for victims and witnesses, and inadequate political will, stressing the need for stronger collaboration among stakeholders.
He noted that human trafficking remains one of the least reported crimes in the country and called for increased sensitization within school communities on the tactics used by traffickers.
The zonal commander urged CSO representatives to apply the knowledge gained during the workshop by extending awareness campaigns to their various communities and states in order to educate citizens on the dangers of trafficking and the need to report suspected cases to NAPTIP.
According to him, women and school-age children remain the most vulnerable targets of traffickers, adding that some parents unfortunately encourage the practice for financial gain.
“Our mandate in NAPTIP is to eliminate the incidence of human trafficking in our society. Women and children of school age are the most vulnerable. It is disheartening that some parents encourage their children to be trafficked for financial motives,” Offiah said.
He explained that under the STEAP initiative, NAPTIP has continued to establish Anti-Trafficking and Violence Vanguards in schools, where students are sensitized and empowered to engage in peer-to-peer advocacy within their schools, communities and families.
“The message for the CSOs here is for them to sensitize communities so that whenever the red flag of trafficking is raised, people will recognize it and demonstrate strong commitment in the fight against trafficking,” he added.
Project Manager of the STEAP Project at ICMPD, Rhoda Dia-Johnson, described CSOs as frontline partners in the prevention of trafficking and violence against persons, stressing the need for them to adopt survivor-centred approaches in their interventions.
She explained that the workshop was designed to review the performance of partner organisations in 2025, identify challenges encountered during implementation, and strengthen the capacity of new partners joining the programme.
“This activity is for our CSO partners across Delta, Edo, Enugu, Ogun and Benue states where the STEAP project is being implemented. We are reviewing what they achieved in 2025, looking at their challenges and discussing ways to address them,” Dia-Johnson said.
She noted that two new CSOs were also inducted into the programme and trained on administrative procedures, financial management, report writing, documentation, data collection and other project management requirements.
According to her, about 20 participants from the five states attended the training alongside staff of ICMPD, NAPTIP Benin Zonal Command, anti-trafficking taskforce members and officials of the Delta State Ministry of Education.
Dia-Johnson also explained that the workshop incorporated training on the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act to strengthen community-level response mechanisms.
She said ICMPD is implementing an integrated project that addresses both trafficking in persons and violence against persons, noting that CSOs are responsible for delivering the community awareness component of the initiative.
Commending the CSOs for their efforts so far, Dia-Johnson said the project was already gaining acceptance in several communities, with parents increasingly participating in sensitization campaigns against trafficking and reporting suspected cases to authorities.
Some participants at the workshop, including Professor Olubunmi Ashimolowo, Executive Director of Gender Development Initiative, and Excel Amadasun of Girls Power Initiative, expressed appreciation to ICMPD and NAPTIP for the training.
They pledged to work closely with other stakeholders to strengthen community-based mechanisms for combating trafficking and related crimes.
Amadasun said the training had further clarified the responsibilities of CSOs in strengthening referral pathways and building community confidence to report cases of trafficking and kidnapping.
“Our task is very clear — to strengthen the referral pathway, build community confidence to report suspected cases and follow up on reported incidents within our communities,” he said.
