Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons said arrangements are in top gear to ascertain the number of trafficked Nigerian women in Iraq for easy rescue.
The spokesperson for NAPTIP, Zacks Dauda, who disclosed this to Saturday PUNCH on Friday, noted that the agency would partner the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to effectively carry out the task.
NAPTIP last year raised an alarm over the plight of Nigerian young women working as domestic workers in Iraq.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, disclosed that the agency was investigating several rogue labour recruiters who had been reported to be big players in the massive recruitment of Nigerians to Iraq for domestic servitude.
Waziri-Ari noted that most of the Nigerian young women working there were exploited in diverse ways on a daily basis and now requesting assistance to return home.
Giving an updates on the situation, NAPTIP spokesman, Dauda, explained, “Our relationship with the MFA has led the agency into having certain agreements on the issues of human trafficking particularly in the area of sensitization.
“The issue of those trafficked to Iraq; we have kick-started an arrangement in collaboration with the MFA in ascertaining the number of Nigerians trafficked.
“Most of the crimes committed are transnational organized crimes which mean it has both foreign and national collaborators.
“In Nigeria, there is what we call the embassy liaison meeting. We call on all ambassadors, High Commissioners and international partners together and we speak with them and identify areas of collaboration and assistance.”
