NAPTIP partners Meta to oust Sextortion

National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP) is collaborating with Meta to combat rising cases of sextortion in the country.

Director General (NAPTIP), Professor Fatima Waziri-Azi, disclosed that reported cases of sextortion received globally were 26,000 and of this figure, 6,100 of those reports emanated from Nigeria.

The DG made this known at the commemoration of the 2024 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, with the theme “Leave no child behind in the fight against Human trafficking” held yesterday in Abuja.

She also revealed that this newest trend of human trafficking has led to suicide among the younger generation.

“Sextortion is when somebody gets hold of your, explicit video or nude photos. They get access to it, and they threaten you that they’ll probably put it on social media or share it with your friends and family if you don’t give them either sexual favours or you pay them money. This is a crime that affects mostly children and young people.

“Last year, the U.S. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children which is like a clearinghouse for anything that has to do with child sexual abuse material or issues of sextortion, received over 26,000 global reports of sextortion across the world. Out of that 26,000, 6,100 of those reports emanated from Nigeria, which is about 27.1% of the global sextortion reports.

“That shows you there’s a problem. Last year, we received about 56 local complaints. It has led to a high rate of suicides.”

Professor Waziri-Azi adds “Very recently, I think it was just last week that Mark Zuckerberg, the owner of Meta, announced that they had brought down 68,000 accounts, Facebook accounts and Instagram accounts, and 2,500 groups registered in Nigeria. And those accounts have been used for sextortion, and also posting fake scholarships.

“So that is what we do. We don’t have the tools, but we leverage our partnership with Meta.”