NAPTIP warns traffickers now use gyms and fake job adverts to lure victims
- NAPTIP says traffickers dey befriend women at gyms and recreational centres before luring them into trafficking networks.
- The agency also warned that fake online job adverts dey pull job seekers into traffickers' hands.
- Its spokesman, Adekoye Vincent, spoke in Abuja and urged Nigerians to verify people offering jobs or help.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) don warn Nigerians say traffickers now dey use gyms, recreational centres and fake job adverts to recruit victims, mostly women.
NAPTIP spokesman Adekoye Vincent give the warning on Thursday at a joint briefing by security and intelligence agencies in Abuja. The Whistler report say the briefing na by the Office of the National Security Adviser for public relations officers of security agencies.
According to Vincent, traffickers dey approach people for social settings, present themselves as service providers wey dey help with domestic needs, shopping and sourcing goods, then collect their phone numbers.
He talk say dem dey work to look dependable, sometimes dem go call at odd hours or show up when a target get problem, like vehicle breakdown. Punch quote am say such gestures often be "part of a deliberate strategy to gain the victim's trust."
Fake jobs and long journeys
Vincent also talk say fake job advertisements, especially online, dey used to deceive job seekers. He talk say the agency don record disturbing cases of people wey travel long distances for work and end up with traffickers.
He cite one case: a lawyer wey travel from Benue State to a law chamber in Abuja and fall into the wrong hands. Vincent talk say he personally speak with the victim and find the experience deeply disturbing.
He warn say trafficking fit leave victims with serious emotional and psychological harm, sometimes including unwanted pregnancies. He advise Nigerians make dem no rush into online friendships and to always check the identity and intentions of anybody wey dey offer job, money or other help.
For the same briefing, Vincent give update on the agency's work. He talk say NAPTIP don secure 16 convictions for human trafficking and related offences, and don rescue and receive 221 Nigerian victims through the international airports in Abuja and Lagos.
He talk say stronger surveillance at the Aminu Kano International Airport lead to the interception of 65 potential victims wey dem allege say dem dey recruit for exploitation in the Middle East.
He also talk say NAPTIP, working with the Rivers State Government, shut down 16 suspicious health facilities in Port Harcourt after a nationwide operation. The agency also dey investigate the alleged trafficking of more than 300 children from Benue and Nasarawa States, where a suspect allegedly pose as a civil society leader. Six more children don recovered, bringing the number rescued in that case to 117, and the suspects' trial dey ongoing in Makurdi, he talk.
Vincent add say NAPTIP don step up public awareness campaigns after reports of rising sextortion, rape and revenge pornography across the country.
What happens next
NAPTIP dey ask Nigerians to verify job offers and new online friendships before trusting them. The agency talk say its awareness campaigns and airport surveillance go continue, and the Benue and Nasarawa child trafficking case still dey before a court in Makurdi.
