Chidiebere Ifudu is faced with an uneasy task. She and her team are executing a mission to prevent and hunt down perpetrators of human trafficking. Chidiebere is the zonal commander of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons, NAPTIP covering Edo and Delta axis.
“The situation of human trafficking as we can see is reducing in Edo State but taking a toll on Delta State, we are even seeing new trends with the cases of ritual adoption and killings” the NAPTIP zonal commander argues that the sustained efforts including the public renouncement of ‘curses’ by the Oba of Benin has emboldened victims to speak out and traffickers to relocate to the fringes of the Delta State borders.
March 9, 2018, His Majesty, the Oba of Benin summoned all the chiefs and native doctors in the Benin Kingdom, it was an emergency meeting, the Oba in response to the increased incidences of human trafficking and irregular migration in the State made a stern proclamation against the perpetrators of human trafficking.
The Oba warned and cursed: “Our gods will destroy you” the angry Monarch lashed on the traffickers. Chidiebere adduced the Oba’s pronouncement and reversal of curses placed on the victims as one of the reasons for the drop in the incidences of human trafficking in Edo State, but she is worried about the rise in Delta State. She hints at an increase in NAPTIP regional call centre for inquiries at the 24 hours call centre: “We observed that immediately after the pronouncement by the Oba, many victims were emboldened to come out, they spoke out for the first time and the perpetrators shifted to the neighboring State” She said.
“I believe that we need such institutional synergies and co-operations’ like the one by ActionAid’s Dare to Hope project in order to fight this menace that has now become endemic” She insists that: “ActionAid is one of the great partners that we have in Nigeria; since our work with ActionAid, our capacity has been increased, many officers have been trained, we have learned new things from the partnership and our operations have greatly improved,” said the NAPTIP commander.