Director General of the the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), Professor Fatima Waziri-Azi, has cautious Nigerians on the need to migrate according to accepted laws to avoid falling victim to human trafficking.

The DG sounded the caution during an online conversation as part of lined up activitirs marking the 20th anniversary of the agency, themed ‘ A Shining Legacy: NAPTIP @ Celebrating Partners and Honouring Excellence’, yesterday in Abuja.

She said,” If you must Japa, Japa the right way. Migrate legally. Nobody is saying you should not travel. Nobody is saying you should not aspire more than what you are now. But, the point is, you have to do your homework. You have to do your research. You must ask the right questions.

“And this attitude of Nigerians going through a middle person, people must learn to own the process.

“You must know the red flags. When someone tells you that he wants to sponsor you abroad and the next thing is that he starts manipulating your personal information on your passport.

“They change your name, they changed your age, they changed your date of birth, that is a red flag. Or when someone tells you that I want to take you to Italy and the next thing is that you see yourself in a bus going to Seme border or you see yourself going through Jibia border, that in itself is a red flag.”

She said immigration in itself is not a crime but the desperattion by some Nigerians to emigrate in search of ‘greener pastures’ has exposes many to human traffickers who prey on unsuspecting victims under guides of facilitators of international travels.

She said ““In the past 20 years, the crime of human trafficking has evolved in terms of trends and patterns. But, one thing I can say for sure is that Nigeria is better poised to tackle the issues of human trafficking.

“Some of the modest achievements of the agency within the past 20 years include the conviction of 624 traffickers, the rescue of over 22, 000 victims of trafficking, the national spread to 32 States across the Country, sponsoring of 19 survivors through University Education.

“Others are the development several counter–trafficking policies, engagement with diver stakeholders including the Justice sector through the National Judicial Institute (NJI) and global partnership with critical partners to counter the emerging trends in human trafficking.”

Professor Waziri-Azi noted NAPTIP protecting for Nigerians against human trafficking, violence against persons, and other forms of exploitation is assured as NAPTIP will continue to expand its operational horizon through enhanced partnership with all stakeholders as well as diligent prosecution of offenders, to outsmart the criminal elements.

She said human trafficking has assumed a national spread across the country with the emerging trends including an increase in online catfishing of youngsters by traffickers, fake job offers and advertorials, fake scholarship offers increase trafficking under cover of sporting activities, orphanage trafficking as well as buying and selling of babies.

The DG points that partnerships with global anti-trafficking law enforcement agencies and corporate bodies such as Meta, owner of Facebook, and the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, the Agency has been able to tackle these challenges effectively.