Imo records 10 missing teenagers in two years, NAPTIP says

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has revealed that about 10 teenagers were reportedly missing in the last two years in Imo State.

The state’s Commander, Mr Ernest Ogbu, disclosed this at a one-day sensitisation programme to mark the 2024 World Day Against Human Trafficking, organised by the agency, in collaboration with Network Against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Labour (NACTAL), held at Community Hall, Umudagu-Mberi in Mbaitoli Council of the state.

He decried the increasing cases of missing teenagers, child selling and other forms of human trafficking in Imo and called for urgent intervention by both the government and stakeholders.

Ogbu disclosed that in the last two years, over 10 cases of missing teenagers, especially girls were recorded. While some were rescued, the whereabouts of others remain unknown, “raising concern that they may have either been used for ritual purposes or exported out of the country for illicit businesses.”

He said the event, mainly sponsored by one of NAPTIP’s Chief Ambassadors and President/Founder, Rarduja International, Eddy Duru, was designed to deepen awareness against the menace and dangers of human trafficking across state communities.

According to him, the task of combating human trafficking, which includes the sexual exploitation of underage children, irregular migration, child selling and abuse, as well as raising adequate awareness against the menace, remains a collective responsibility of all and sundry in the state.

Ogbu said: “We at NAPTIP are getting worried because children are missing in Imo almost daily. We are receiving this complaint every day. Our teenagers, particularly the female ones, are taken outside the country for prostitution and other illicit businesses.

“Just recently, you heard about seven girls of Imo State extraction. Over 15 of them were travelling to Ghana to get lured into prostitution. It took the effort of the agency and other partners to rescue and bring these children back home.”