September 13, 2022

The Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Dr. Fatima Waziri-Azi, has ordered a manhunt of a trafficking suspect identified as Nkiru.

NAPTIP’s spokesperson, Mr. Vincent Adekoye, made this known in a statement he issued on Monday in Abuja.

He stated that the suspect took a 16-year-old-girl and her son from a community in Anambra to Ghana from where she allegedly recruits victims from remote villages in Nigeria.

He quoted Waziri-Azi as directing an increased surveillance and round-the-clock monitoring of another suspect in the case, popularly known as Zuma.

Zuma was said to be the facilitator behind the recruitment and transportation of trafficked victims to Ghana.

Adekoye observed that Zuma’s recent release by NAPTIP in Anambra elicited negative reactions from the people of Awka-Etiti in Idemili South Local Government Area of the state.

He stated that Zuma was released on bail after two weeks at NAPTIP’s detention facility to assist it to trace Nkiru and her victims.

He added that during interrogation, Zuma admitted that Nkiru approached him at a shopping mall in Nnewi and requested for a girl that could work in her bar in Ghana.

It was the request that prompted the recruitment of the victim.

The victim was said to have travelled with her three-month-old baby and nothing had been heard about them ever since.

Adekoye stated that Waziri-Azi assured the community and other stakeholders that NAPTIP would rescue the victim and her son.

He quoted her as saying that NAPTIP would not hesitate to revoke the bail granted to Zuma in the event of a breach of the terms of the bail.