Blue Bus Frontliners: NACTAL's pivotal partnership with government against human trafficking

In this first article of 5, the spotlight falls on the Network of Civil Society Organizations Against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Labour [NACTAL]. The body’s president, Abdul Ganiyu Abubakar, walks us through their modus-operandi, wins, challenges and what it means to fight the shape-shifting menace of human trafficking in Nigeria. Read the other four stories of this series here.

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The war against the scourge of Trafficking in Persons [TIP] is a universal one, and Nigeria is actively faced with its share of these battles as well. There is hardly any time in recent history when there hasn’t been concern that Nigerians, particularly women and children, are being exploited, forced into servitude, sold into sex trade under the guise of securing jobs and a better life abroad, among other worrying trends.

The establishment of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons [NAPTIP] in 2003 was a step in the right direction but the endemic nature of trafficking in Nigeria, especially in the country’s south-south, and the continuous ingenuity of the perpetrators of the crime would prove a little too intricate for the efforts against TIP to be left for just the national agency to handle.

Enter, NACTAL

The Network Against Child Trafficking, Abuse And Labour [NACTAL] is the umbrella body of civil society organisations and NGOs working against TIP, child abuse and labour across Nigeria.

It was established in 2005 in Benin City, out of a need for a pillar body that will coordinate the activities of civil society organisations so that they can work closely, leverage on resources and reduce duplication. The work of NACTAL has been influential and important in the fight against trafficking as the 166-member organisation continues to use its network to foster partnership and extend the reach of anti-trafficking activities and interventions across Nigeria.

To get a deeper understanding and insight into their operations and the extent of their tasks, we reached out to Abdul Ganiyu Abubakar, President of NACTAL, who holds nothing back when talking about the concerted labour of NGOs in the tussle against TIP.

What exactly does NACTAL do?

“The formation of NACTAL was to ensure that the campaign against TIP is safeguarded, and that any organisation that wishes to join the fight will be credible, and duly registered with an umbrella body. This is to avoid an infiltration of the system by organisations claiming to support Nigeria’s response to trafficking, who are themselves aiding the criminal activity.

“To ensure this, we have a standing memorandum of understanding which requires NAPTIP to only recognise and work with organizations that are registered with us.

“We also have other partnerships with the United Nations office on drugs and crime, we have implemented the Free Movement And Migration project of the International Organization for Migration [IOM] among others.

“Our activities include awareness creation, sensitization, engagement with community stakeholders, as well as high-level advocacy with government and international organisations on policies against TIP. We collaborate and support actors in implementing the 5 P’s to stop human trafficking: Prevention, Protection, Partnership, Prosecution, and Policy.”

Could you please speak more about the advocacy aspect of your work?

“We’ve done quite a lot. At the national level, NACTAL was instrumental in bringing about a review of the NAPTIP act. That review brought about a more encompassing body of laws, essentially broadening NAPTIP’s horizon and scope in addressing issues of trafficking, child labour and abuse.

“At the state and zonal level, knowing that Nigeria is a very large and multi-ethnic country, we conduct advocacy activities around issues that are prevalent in our communities. For example, we discovered in northern Nigeria, where I am working from, that the phenomenon of Almajiri - children who roam and beg on the streets - actually contributes to the fueling of TIP in that part of the country.

“So NACTAL member organisations in the north, through their different platforms, have come together to advocate that the governments of this region begin to look at ways of modifying and reforming the Almajiri school system as it no longer serves the children.

“And then we also work with the Ministry of Labour and Employment to ensure the proper regulation of the activities of recruitment agencies because a lot of the recruitment agencies in Nigeria have turned to agencies that support and harbour the activities of traffickers.”

With NACTAL being an organisation with a mandate of partnership, how solid would you say the partnership between member organisations is?

“I must say that that has not worked very well because a lot of interventions in Nigeria are still very lopsided in favour of one section of the country or another, or in favour of one thematic area or the other, while other areas are being overlooked. [Editor’s note: Mr Abubakar’s hope is for member organisations of NACTAL to use diversification of their activities as a form of partnership. In essence, member organisations need to pick up on uncovered aspects of the anti-trafficking work, rather than proliferate in certain areas that are well occupied already. If all bases are covered, organisations can then use the referral system to great effect by directing victims to sister bodies who might be better equipped and suited to solving those victims’ problems.]

“For example, there is so much focus on prevention [awareness creation] but there is very little in actual intervention.

“On the issue of prosecution, if you look at the cases of TIP that have been reported, and the ones that even got to court, compared to the prosecution secured, you will find out that we also need to do so much more in the area of prosecution.

“If you also look at Nigeria as a whole, you find out that intervention is mostly in the southern part of Nigeria. Of course, that is where you have the endemic states but then, the dynamics are shifting because these traffickers are also on the move, they are learning.

“In Sokoto alone, there are about 50 routes through which you can enter into Niger republic with anything and anyone. And these routes through towns like Ilella and Kwani are not manned by any security agency as they are not official borders. Same with Borno state, Adamawa state, Kano State, Katsina state, even Kwara state through Barutin.

“I don’t know why, but a lot of partners have not focused their intervention on to see how they could actually tailor their projects in a way that will call the attention of the nation to say; even though we need to touch the origin states, we also need to look at these safe havens for these traffickers because the more the safe havens exist, the more the traffickers will be able to explore."

Do you ever have to deal with red-tapism and bureaucracy issues?

“Of course. It’s one of our major issues. And that is not to undermine the importance of government departments and agencies that have anti-human-trafficking mandates but sometimes, it is difficult to engage with them, particularly the chief executives, and especially as everything is politicised. So it takes a lot of time.

“For example, since I came on board as the National President of NACTAL, there are government ministries and departments that I have written to since October 2020 but we still haven’t gotten as little as a 15-minute audience with them, even though our letters were acknowledged.

“But with the international body, it is not so. For example, I have had an audience with the coordinator of the UN in Nigeria several times. He has also invited me to be part of their zoom meetings, and some of their engagements. We’ve had interactions with the ECOWAS commission, some other international agencies and social development partners. With them, it is easier. With NAPTIP, it is easy as well because we have a partnership.

“I’d like to encourage other agencies and commissions and ministries. that have anti-human-trafficking mandates to be more open to civil society organisations. We are everywhere in Nigeria and if we partner and collaborate, we will be able to share resources to a greater effect.”

Let’s talk about the reintegration of trafficked persons back into the Nigerian society

“Idia Renaissance, Girls Power Initiative, WOTCLEF, Human Development Initiative, etc are some of the civil society organisations that have influenced our work in this regard.

“At the time I served as the National Director for the West African Network For The Protection Of Children, I was responsible for receiving and managing cases from all the 15 countries in ECOWAS including Mauritania.

“When a child is identified, for example, a Nigerian child in Benin republic, the coordinator of the Host Country completes an Identification sheet. This identification sheet documents the personal information of the child. It also gives an insight into the circumstances under which the young person was found.

“Once an identification sheet has been received, we try to reach out to the family of the young person. We have identified member organisations in each of the 36 states to ease this process. And of course, we work closely with NAPTIP who provide protection and shelter. We also have collaboration with agencies like health facilities, with the Nigerian police, immigration, etc.

“[There are other stages and processes to be observed but most importantly,] after the child is reunited with the family or taken back to their community, our intervention requires that we provide holistic support for them so that they don’t end up on the streets again.

“So we ensure that we encourage them to go back to school, we support the parents with economic activities of their choice to be able to support the children afterwards; or in the event of young persons who have some skills or are already into some businesses, we support them with the tools to be able to reestablish their business and continue with life in the community.

“This process was funded by the Save The Child Initiative through the International Social Service. This is how we were able, over the past 11-12 years, to operate under the auspices of the African network for the protection of children.”

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The Blue Bus project is funded by the Government of Switzerland.

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