The National Agency for the Prohibition of Human Trafficking has issued a warning about the growing activities of human traffickers operating across northern borders.
Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, Director-General of NAPTIP, disclosed this exclusively to The PUNCH on the sidelines of the recently concluded inaugural joint technical working group meeting on a memorandum signed between Nigeria and The Gambia, which was held in Abuja.
Human traffickers, according to Waziri-Azi, are now preferring the northern borders over the southern borders, which were once their safe haven.
Waziri said;
Historically, traffickers used border points in the southern part of the country like the Seme border to smuggle people out of Nigeria, but in the past five years, traffickers have moved from the South-West region of Nigeria to the North-West region of the country.
So, we see a lot of trafficking happening through Jibia border in Katsina State, through Sokoto, Zamfara, Kongolom, a border town with Niger Republic and Zinder and Agadez in Niger Republic.
She expressed the readiness to tackle the menace through collaborations with relevant stakeholders.