Refuse bribes from human traffickers – NAPTIP advises Chisco  drivers

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on Tuesday took its campaign to Chisco Transport Company, urging its drivers to protect its integrity  by not accepting bribes from  human traffickers. At a sensitisation programme on counter- human trafficking approaches held at the Chisco Transport Company’s premises in Lagos, the Director-General of NAPTIP, Mrs Fatima Waziri-Azi, urged that no person should be trafficked through the company’s parks. Waziri-Azi  was represented by Mr Joshia Emerole, Director of Research and Programme Development of NAPTIP. She said that human trafficking needed  intensive combat. She said that about 20,000 Nigerian female victims of human trafficking were being exploited in the mines of Mali. Waziri-Azi said that the drivers could recognise  victims of human trafficking through their behaviours. ” They will always avoid eyes contact. “Victims will not able to answer questions, and  will most likely be panicking,” she said. The agency’s Deputy Director in charge of Legal and Prosecution Department, Mrs Ijeoma Amugo, said that the majority of victims were youths  and were being exploited. According to Amugo, some of the victims were forced into prostitution or had their organs harvested. She noted  that some suspects used road to convey victims from one end of Nigeria to another and even beyond the country. “ NAPTIP deemed it fit to come because we believe that our collaboration is one that should be explored to stem the tide of human trafficking. “This is because we realise that most of the times, road transport companies are actually the first responders because some of these victims and suspects use road transport services,” she said. She urged the drivers to call the agency’s toll free hotline 07030000203, when necessary. The Managing Consultant to Chisco Transport Company, Mr Buchi Ochuba, praised the agency for effects to rid the country of human trafficking. He said that the company would ensure that it would not be used by human traffickers  to perpetrate their evil acts.  (NAN)