The Chairman of the Nigeria Police Service Commission (NPSC), Dr Solomon Arase, has asked the Federal Government to intensify war against human trafficking.
Speaking at a book launch titled ‘We Are Priceless,’ in Lagos, Arase said human trafficking is an organised crime that must be discouraged by the government.
The former Inspector General of Police said government must train and equip law enforcement officers to mitigate the crime in the country.
Arase said, “I feel happy that we are beginning to put on the table tropical issues that have to do with crime and criminality.
“This has been affecting the image of the country and a lot of people have lost their lives in the process of dealing with this issue of child abuse and taking them out of their habitant.
“And we are going to appeal to everybody to see how we can put this book on all the primary and secondary schools in the country. So that people will start learning the danger of not taking care of our siblings.
“Parents must learn to profile people coming to take their children. You don’t just give your child to anybody and say he wants to take him or her to the city. You need to know what the person does for a living, his background and their pedigree.
“This is really an organised crime and it is something we have to really discourage and we have to put our hands on it. We have to train our law enforcement officers to be able to know the signs of this crime in order to mitigate the issue.”
The book reviewer, Femi Adesina, said the government need to strengthen the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in order to curtail the menace of human trafficking.
Adesina, who was the former Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari, said NAPTIP had been doing well to stem the ugly tide but needs to be strengthened to the drastically reduce the menace.
“The government must strengthen NAPTIP and make them more effective because they are already doing well. I can tell you that it may be difficult completely eradicating trafficking but it can be reduced drastically especially if an agency like NAPTIP is strengthened,” he said.
On her part, the author of the book, Juliana Francis, said, “It is a family book whereby everybody can read and be able to educate somebody. Imagine a society where everyone of us is talking about one issue and reading the book and you are seeing the red flags.
“So, if someone is coming to say I’m taking your child abroad, you should be asking yourself what is the motive.
“I think the impact is that everybody should become more enlightened about issues that have to do with human trafficking.”
