By Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in collaboration with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the Benue State Ministry of Education, has engaged school principals in Benue State to adopt strategic approaches to curb the high rate of human trafficking in the state.
The organisations organised a two-day awareness and capacity-building workshop for school principals, vanguard coordinators, and education administrators on the use of tools for the implementation of TIPVAP vanguards under the School Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project (STEAP) on Wednesday, August 13, 2025, in Makurdi.
Speaking to newsmen at the event, the Project Manager of STEAP said it is a four-year project funded by the Government of the Netherlands and implemented by ICMPD in collaboration with NAPTIP.
She said the training workshop is one of many activities under the STEAP project targeting principals and coordinators of the Anti-Trafficking Vanguards being established in 50 schools in Benue State.
She explained that the two-day training is to equip the trainees with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the activities of the schools’ anti-trafficking vanguards, reporting tools, and how the vanguard activities are to be coordinated by NAPTIP in the various selected schools.
“The SOPs are documents developed by NAPTIP that will be used in those schools, and we also have interventions targeting parents. The STEAP project targets the entire school system: parents, community leaders, teachers, school administrators, and other stakeholders.
“It is concerned with the running of the schools. We are also conducting community outreach to sensitise parents and communities on the issues of trafficking, how to identify cases, where to report, and how to respond if it happens,” she said.
She noted that Benue has the highest rate of trafficking in the country, urging all hands to be on deck to minimise the exposure of children to becoming victims.
Also speaking, the Director-General of NAPTIP, Hajia Binta Bello, said the essence of this engagement with principals and coordinators was to bring them up to speed on the issues of human trafficking, the prevalence in Benue State, and the importance of the inauguration of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons and Violence Against Persons Vanguards, which have been established in 10 schools out of the 50 planned.
While stressing NAPTIP’s efforts to curb trafficking in Benue and across the country, the NAPTIP DG recalled that Edo State was previously topping the list of high-prevalence states, but Benue has now overtaken it, ranking first among all states in Nigeria.
The DG, represented by the Director of Intelligence, Research and Programme Development, Josiah Emerole, cautioned that trafficking in persons is a clandestine crime where perpetrators do not announce their intentions before acting. She urged all stakeholders to be vigilant and collaborate to reduce the incidences.
Welcoming participants on behalf of Governor Hyacinth Alia, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Knowledge Management, Mrs Helen Nambativ, said human trafficking has become an international illegal business with severe consequences, and Benue State seems to be a fertile ground for this illegal activity.
“This is because of incessant attacks by herders and terrorists on Benue communities, thereby leaving our people vulnerable. The state government has been trying to educate people on the dangers of human trafficking, and there is a need to partner with organisations and spirited individuals with an interest in ending human trafficking in the state,” she said.
She commended ICMPD, NAPTIP, and the partnering CSO, Okaha Women and Children Development Organization (OWACDO), for supporting Benue State in the fight against human trafficking and violence against persons, urging representatives of the selected schools to pay attention and escalate lessons to their respective schools.
The Zonal Commander, NAPTIP Makurdi Zonal Command, Mrs Gloria Bai, explained: “We have what is called Vanguards Against Human Trafficking and Violence Against Persons. The vanguards are to be inaugurated in 50 schools in Benue State, but for now, we have inaugurated them in only 10 schools. By the time schools resume in September, we will continue with inaugurating vanguards in schools and also continue with our sensitisation activities in schools and their host communities.
“The objective of having the vanguards in schools is to bring the children up to speed or catch them young because most of the children being trafficked are from that secondary school age.
“So we decided to go to schools to sensitise them and create these vanguards because we want them to be the ones to carry the message of counter-trafficking within their communities and in their schools. Each vanguard is made up of 30 members. We want them to take the message to their peers and know where to report the matter when they see it,” Bai said.
The Principal of Community Secondary School, Makurdi, Mrs Victoria Akange, the Principal of Tilley Gyado College, Makurdi, Dr Emmanuel Zakaa, and the Vanguard Coordinator of Community Secondary School, Makurdi, Franca Ijor, all commended the organisations for the programme, saying that since its inception, both the children and school management have been enthusiastic about it and are willing to lead the campaign to curb the menace.
Our correspondent reports that the STEAP project is implemented in five states, including Edo, Delta, Enugu, Ogun, and Benue.
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