Anambra State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Professor Sylvia Ifemeje, has said that because of concerns for human dignity; the Governor Chukwuma Soludo administration is currently making ‘top gear’ efforts to establish a conducive shelter for the protection of victims of human trafficking, and that the project will be actualized soon.
Professor Ifemeje, who stated this in Abuja at the 26th National Stakeholders Consultative Forum on Human Trafficking in Nigeria organized by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person, NAPTIP, disclosed that the state anti-trafficking task force is currently prosecuting six cases at the Federal High Court, Awka, and that the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, and the Director of Citizens’ Rights Directorate; both under the Ministry of Justice, have been mandated to give priority attention to the cases in Court.
The Justice Commissioner, who is also the Chairman, Anambra State Anti-Trafficking Task Force, explained that the team has continued to engage in various activities geared towards smooth operations and achieving the goals for which it was set up.
Part of the activities, according to Professor Ifemeje, is that between 23rd July to date, there has been an elaborate legal framework to help fight against trafficking-in-persons in the state, including the new Anti-Trafficking law of Anambra State, 2024.
She informed the gathering that the introduction of free education from primary school to junior secondary school by the Soludo administration will help curb exposure of children within the state to trafficking, adding that public enlightenment campaigns, capacity building for members of the anti-trafficking task force and strategic partnership with individuals and organizations are other ways of addressing the social menace of human trafficking in the state.
Credit: ABS/Joseph Egbeocha