NAPTIP continues drive against human trafficking with Blue Bus campaign

When the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) launched the Blue Bus initiative in March 2021, the aim was to raise awareness and direct more attention to the detrimental impact of human trafficking in Nigeria.

The Blue Bus is a traveling awareness-raising exposition, enlightening people on the dangers of human trafficking and irregular migration, offering information on how to report cases, and counseling former and potential victims. What makes this initiative more laudable is its focus on the most endangered populations in migration-prone areas across the country.

The Blue Bus Initiative is another way through which NAPTIP and IOM are showing dedication to the anti-human-trafficking cause. As individual bodies, the amount of work being put into ensuring the protection of Nigerians from trafficking is immense, particularly by NAPTIP which was commissioned for this purpose in 2003. By the end of 2020, NAPTIP had received 7991 reports on trafficked humans, investigating over 4000 of these cases through its agents and network of partner agencies. This extensive work has seen over 15000 persons rescued and 463 people convicted.

While partnerships with state governments and national agencies such as the Nigeria Immigration Service, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defense, Concerned Citizens, Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, Federal Road Safety Corps, and National Human Right Commission have helped smoothen this process to a very large extent, the advantage of collaborating with other countries and international bodies such as the IOM can neither be overstated nor undermined.

Take, for instance, the fact that in the course of the 10-year migration partnership between Nigeria and Switzerland, more than 50 projects have been commissioned and completed to strengthen migration governance and border management, fight trafficking in persons, create job opportunities to prevent irregular migration and support the voluntary return and reintegration of trafficking. 

Just between 2017 and the time of this publication, IOM has also aided the voluntary return and reintegration of more than 21,500 Nigerian migrants, of which approximately 15 percent are victims of trafficking from Libya, Mali, Europe, and the Middle East, among others.

This establishes the stellar record of the Swiss-Nigerian migration partnership and proves that the Blue Bus Initiative, kick-started by Karin Keller-Sutter, Federal Councilor and Head of the Federal Department of Justice and Police of Switzerland, is primed for success in its cross-country drive against trafficking, especially of women, children and other persons at risk.

“I believe this project is a perfect symbol of our current state of the migration partnership and, more importantly, our future cooperation,” Keller-Sutter noted at Blue Bus’ launch in March, 2021.

“We are not afraid to tackle difficult issues such as human trafficking jointly and we are doing it in an innovative, holistic and balanced partnership approach.,” she added. 

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

Follow Blue Bus on Facebook: Blue bus Facebook 

On Instagram: BluebusbyNAPTIP Instagram

This is a featured post.