To tackle the menace of human trafficking which is rampant in Edo state, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons(NAPTIP) has teamed up with local witch doctors in the state.
The witch doctors were assembled by NAPTIP who made them aware of the problem the state was facing as well as what happens to people trafficked to Europe.
The Director-General of NAPTIP Julie Okah-Donli at a Monday session organized for the officials of the Federal Agency in Abuja gave details on the exercise to mobilize the witch doctors to achieve its objectives while recounting their reaction..
“When we gathered these witch doctors recently to sensitize them on what human trafficking victims go through in Europe, they were shocked,” said Okah-Donli who announced the commitment of the witch doctors to assist in curbing human trafficking. in Edo state.
The Agency is in the process of getting more witch doctors involved in its agenda in addition to the witch doctors they have partnered with and made NAPTIP ambassadors in not just Edo but other parts of the country.
Data collated by NAPTIP unveiled that more than 13000 Nigerians who migrated to Libya were rescued between November 2017 and January 2018. In the same vein a Nonprofit Organisation
Devatop Centre for Africa Development (DCAD) which is dedicated to eradicating trafficking of humans has estimated that a total of 27 million women, girls, men and boys are being trafficked worldwide.
Cases of sexual abuse and torture were narrated by victims who make up the millions of Nigerians especially young people who are most likely to be trafficked into human slavery due to attempts to escape poverty, insurgency, communal violence and employment.