By Ifeanyi Olannye
The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) has charged Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to adopt strategies to end Trafficking In Persons and Violence Against Persons (TIP-VAP) in Nigeria.
The centre, in collaboration with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP), made the call on Wednesday at the opening of a training workshop for CSOs in Asaba, Delta.
The three-day workshop is for partner CSOs on Community Sensitisation Approaches for TIP-VAP Prevention and Response in five states.
Mrs Rhoda Dia-Johnson, Project Manager, Schools Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project (STEAP), ICMPD, Nigeria, said that benefiting CSOs were drawn from five participating states of Delta, Edo, Ogun, Enugu and Benue.
According to her, the STEAP- TIP-VAP project is funded by the Government of the Netherlands and is being implemented by ICMPD in collaboration with NAPTIP and the Ministry of Education.
“This training is for our partner CSOs in the five states. We work with one Civil Society Organisation in one state, so the workshop is to review what the CSOs have done in 2025.
“We want to look at their challenges and see how we can mitigate them, and we have two new CSOs joining the team that we need to build their capacity on our administrative procedure, financial management, report writing and how to use our template.
“We have five CSOs here; one from each participating state, and from each CSO we have four staff, making it 20 participants plus our staff and others from the ministry of education”.
She said the training had become necessary to expand the scope of the activities of the CSOs to cover messages beyond Trafficking In Persons (TIP) to Violence Against Persons (VAP).
“So, the CSOs’ sensitisation and awareness message to the society will now be on TIP-VAP, so that our community will be familiar with all the provisions under the VAP Act.
“I am sure all five participating state governments have domesticated the Violence Against Persons Act. Get an abridged version and disseminate the information in our communities so that people can utilise the provision of the Act,” she said.
The STEAP project manager, who lauded the reports of the CSOs from the participating states, added that they needed to intensify efforts to enshrine the message in their communities to stem TIP-VAP for a safer society.
According to her, the STEAP, a four-year project, will end in 2027, but whether it will be extended to Phase II depends on the donor – the Government of the Netherlands.
“So, we are still discussing with the donor, and if they are happy with what we have done and they think we should have phase II, I am sure they will do it.
“So, the onus is on all of us to do well. We are on track, we are already superseding the target that has been set, in terms of numbers, and we have seen the impacts of some of our works,” she said.
She said that if the donor approves a second phase, the project may extend to other states of the country to deepen the fight against human trafficking and violence against persons in Nigeria.
On his part, Mr Sam Offiah, NAPTIP Commander, Benin Zonal Command, said the partnership with ICMPD had been impactive to the society in stemming the tide of human trafficking and violence against persons.
He urged partner CSOs to intensify efforts to sensitise the communities on the red flags of human trafficking and violence against persons by educating, reporting and ensuring an end to the menace in society.
“NAPTIP mandate is to eliminate the incidence of human trafficking in our societies, and women and children are the most vulnerable.
“This is why NAPTIP and ICMPD engaged in inaugurating vanguards under the STEAP project in schools to sensitise students and inaugurate them as members of anti-trafficking and Violence Vanguard.
Responding, the CSOs, Hope Health Organisation (HHO), Delta, Girls Power Initiative (GPI), Benin, and Gender Development Initiative (GDI), Ogun, pledged to deploy the lessons from the workshop to deepen the fight against human trafficking in their states. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng).