Director General, National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), Barr. Julie Okah-Donli has called for immediate prosecutions and convictions of human traffickers in the destination countries.
She made the call in Abuja during a courtesy visit on Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, stressing the collaborative need on the two agencies to start making the demands.
Barr. Julie Okah-Donli, Director General, National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), has called for immediate prosecutions and convictions of human traffickers in the destination countries.
She made the call in Abuja during a courtesy visit on Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, stressing the collaborative need on the two agencies to start making the demands.
“I will like you to join your strong voice with mine, Nigerians are the victims, we need to change the narratives when they are sent back, the destination countries are telling me that their nationals are not involved. This is not true.
There is no way Nigerians will be operating in Italy or any other countries without their nationals assisting them. Nigerians are just agents taking the consignments to them in Europe”, she said.
Okah-Donli wondered how Nigerians will get into other countries without the collaboration of the nationals of those countries, stressing that the affected countries make it look like it was all Nigeria problems.
“It is high time for us as a country, to start making demands for the criminals in those destination countries to be prosecuted and convicted and not see it as Nigeria problems alone,
The biggest challenge to me has been the refusal of the destination countries to prosecute their own gangs, not being able to confiscate the assets and freeze the accounts of the criminal gangs that are based in their countries”, she added.
She, therefore, called for the repatriation of all assets, monies accruable to the Nigerian victims over there, saying when they are done with them, they just deport them without releasing all their assets to them.
“This is inhuman, callous and wicked. It is greater than slavery. They rape our boys and turn them to cargo. Every day, they are getting a new consignment. I want to see all these demands happening”, She said.