The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), organised workshop for school principals, teachers and vanguard coordinators in Enugu.
This is to strengthen school-based advocacy against human trafficking and related abuses.
The workshop, held in collaboration with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).
The Government of the Netherlands funded the programme.
It aimed to equip participants with practical knowledge and tools for effective sensitisation within schools.
NAPTIP Director-General, Ms. Binta Bello said participants would serve as frontline advocates of anti-trafficking clubs in their respective schools.
Bello, represented by the Director of Public Enlightenment, Mrs. Kehinde Akomolafe, said the agency partnered with ICMPD to produce handbooks.
She said the handbook would guide the inauguration of advocacy clubs in selected schools across five states-.
The states include Benue, Enugu, Ogun, Delta and Edo.
“The idea is to educate teachers so they can carry out school-level inaugurations and other awareness activities,” Bello stated.
Mrs. Rhoda Dia-Johnson, ICMPD Project Manager, said the training formed part of the School Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project (STEAP).
She said the project aims to make schools safer and more resilient.
“Vanguard Clubs will be set up in 50 schools across each participating state.
“Principals and vanguard coordinators are not just educators; they are frontline defenders of children’s rights.
“Our goal is to build strong network of protection that begins in schools and extend to the society,” she said.
In his goodwill message, Mr. Sib Siebesma, First Secretary for Migration at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Abuja, commended NAPTIP’s efforts in combating human trafficking.
He urged educators to use the training to strengthen their capacity to protect children.
“It is sad that minors account for more than 75 percent of identified trafficking victims in West Africa, ” he said.
ENUGU GOVT ‘S TAKE
Enugu State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Nwabueze Mbah pledged the government’s commitment to securing schools..
Mbah, represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mr. Patrick Ochie, said the government is committed to protecting children.
In his remarks, the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Dr. Kingsley Udeh, said the state had established a legal framework to prosecute suspected traffickers.
Udeh, represented by Mrs. Caroline Avah, said the government would not relent in safeguarding schoolchildren across the state.
