The Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Hajia Binta Bello, has called on secondary school principals in Ogun State to actively support the agency’s efforts in combating human trafficking, which she described as the second most prevalent transnational crime after drug trafficking.
Bello, represented by the agency’s Director of Research and Programme Development, Mr. Josiah Emerole, made the appeal during a two-day capacity-building workshop in Abeokuta. The event, held in collaboration with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), trained 50 selected principals who also serve as coordinators of Anti-Trafficking Vanguard Clubs in their schools.
Highlighting the severity of the crime, Bello noted that human trafficking generates an estimated $150 billion globally each year and continues to devastate the lives of countless victims — many of whom are school-aged children.
“Human trafficking is a transnational organised crime, and all over the world it is counted second after drug trafficking. Most of the people who fall victim are children, many of school age,” she said.
“Some of these victims are in your schools — you may not know, but after this training, you will be able to identify those victims and support them.”
She emphasized Ogun State’s position as one of the hotspots for human trafficking in Nigeria, pointing to both internal and external trafficking trends.
“There are many quarries in Ogun where children are brought in to break stones — most of these children are trafficked. Internal trafficking, from villages to cities, is quite prevalent,” she added.
According to Bello, the training aims to equip educators with the knowledge to coordinate anti-trafficking initiatives in schools and communities.
“Our working with you will help us a lot to check human trafficking within our schools. What we are doing is to catch them young, so they have the knowledge to recognize and resist trafficking attempts.”
Also speaking at the event, Rhoda Dia-Johnson, Project Manager of the School Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project (STEAP) at ICMPD, expressed concern over the growing number of schoolchildren falling prey to traffickers.
Funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, STEAP seeks to empower students to become “informed, protected, and proactive citizens” in the fight against human trafficking.
“As principals and coordinators of anti-human trafficking in schools, you are not just educators, you are frontline defenders of children’s rights,” she stated.
“You must be custodians of safe learning environments where signs of exploitation can be identified, where trust can be nurtured, and where children find the support they need to speak up.”
In his remarks, the Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, reaffirmed the government’s commitment to the cause. Represented by the Director of Education Support Services, Akinola Okereafor, Arigbabu revealed that the state has started integrating Safe School Child Protection Policies and Psychosocial Support Frameworks into its educational system.
“Schools are not only centres of learning but incubators of values, identity, and resilience,” he said, urging school administrators to watch closely for signs of abuse or behavioral changes that may signal a child at risk.
