By Oladele Eniola
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on Tuesday said it had rescued 350 Nigerians trafficked to Libya, as well as arrested six traffickers, from January till date.
Mr Aganran Alao, the Zonal Commander, NAPTIP, Lagos, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
He spoke on the side lines of a town hall meeting with the theme: “Promoting local opportunities as an alternative to irregular migration” organised by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
“The agency is committed to ensuring that human trafficking is reduced to the barest minimum and we would ensure that it happens.
“From January to till date, we have rescued 350 Nigerians from Libya`, who were victims of trafficking, and we have arrested six persons in connection to this.
“The public must always ensure that traffickers don’t prey on their desperation, as this is one of the major ways that traffickers lure people into the system,” he said.
Alao revealed that the agency had begun a media campaign and community awareness at the grassroots level, because grassroots people were soft targets for traffickers.
“We carry out media campaigns and a lot of community awareness, so as to enlighten people in those areas of the dangers of irregular migration and its after effects.
“People need to understand the devastating effects of irregular migration and it is always a different picture of what is painted by traffickers, because they are only after their selfish interests,” he said.
He urged the public to report suspicious cases of human traffickers and trafficking in their respective communities. (NAN)