Edo, Kano, Delta lead in human trafficking in Nigeria, NAPTIP record shows

Indications have emerged that trafficking activities are on the rise in Edo, Kano and Delta states.

Data released from the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons on Wednesday revealed that 11,819 Nigerians were rescued from human traffickers up till December 2018.

Edo State had one-fifth or 21 per cent of the rescued victims, Kano had 10 while Delta had 7.2 per cent.

The statistics are from the Nigeria Country Report of Human Trafficking 2019 by NAPTIP.

The document showed a breakdown of the rescued victims by their states of origin, making the South-South comprising Edo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers states the most prevalent for human trafficking with 40.7 per cent of the total  number  of victims.

The North-West followed with 19.8 per cent, with Kano leading in the zone with 1,114 victims.

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The report said, “From inception to December 2018, NAPTIP has received 11,819 Nigerian victims of trafficking. One-fifth of the Nigerian victims are indigenes of Edo State and about one-tenth of the victims are from Kano State. Other states with significant percentages include Akwa Ibom, 8.1; Delta, 7.2; Benue, 4.3; Imo, 4.2; and Cross River, 4.2.

“In numbers, Cross River has 486 victims, Delta, 855, Imo, 509, Ogun 286, and Sokoto, 347 victims. The South-East has 16.7 per cent of all the victims. Other zones – North-Central, South-West and North-East recorded 10.1, 8.9 and 3.8 per cents respectively.

“Women and children are the most vulnerable in the victims of human trafficking. This is evident following the distribution where 71.2 per cent of rescued victims are females and 50.3 per cent are children.”

Meanwhile, the 2019 report also showed 39 countries from where some of the victims were rescued, with Libya, Mali, the United Arab Emirates, Niger Republic and Burkina Faso topping the list.

The document showed that 2,389 victims were rescued by the agency from the five countries.

According to the record, Libya had 568, Mali 258, UAE 184, Niger 278 and Burkina Faso 196 victims.

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