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Features Education Sex & Relationship Interview Columns Opinion Advertise with us NAPTIP rescues 156 victims,
repatriates 300 from Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire July 23, 2026 12:23 am National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking
in Persons. Photo: NAPTIP By Stephen Angbulu Kindly share this story: The National Agency for the Prohibition of
Trafficking in Persons on Wednesday said it has rescued 156 victims of human trafficking since January 2026 and
repatriated over 300 others from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in 2025. This was as it warned that criminal networks had
moved the frontlines of exploitation from brothels and farms into the digital space, where educated, tech-savvy Nigerian
graduates were now being lured into scam compounds across Southeast Asia. Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello,
disclosed this at a pre-World Day Against Trafficking in Persons press conference held at the agency’s headquarters in
Abuja, where she received representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International
Organisation for Migration, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development and the Embassy of the Kingdom of
the Netherlands, as part of activities leading to the 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, observed annually
on July 30. The theme for this year’s commemoration is ‘Trapped Behind the Scam.’ She said, “Many young people,
particularly educated and highly skilled youths, are lured with promises of lucrative employment opportunities abroad in
information technology, digital marketing, customer service, cryptocurrency trading, gaming or telecommunications.
“Upon arrival in foreign countries, especially parts of Asia, they discover that the promised jobs do not exist.
Instead, their passports are confiscated, their freedom is restricted, and they are forced under threats, intimidation,
violence, debt bondage, or psychological coercion to perpetrate sophisticated online scams targeting unsuspecting
victims across the world.” Describing the scale of the challenge, she stated, “Over 300,000 people are trafficked
into scam operations across Southeast Asia annually, with an estimated revenue of about $64bn generated. “About 66
countries of origin are represented among trafficked victims, with approximately 74 per cent of identified scam
compounds concentrated in the Mekong region, Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.” Bello termed the conditions of
those trapped inside these compounds as severe, saying, “For those who fail to meet targets, they are locked in
solitary confinement, tortured, raped, and even have their organs harvested. “Families lose contact with their loved
ones. Parents exhaust their savings in desperate attempts to secure what they believe are legitimate overseas
opportunities. “Without any intention of sounding alarmist, the emerging face of human trafficking is dreadful,
dangerous, and poses a multi-dimensional threat to the entire nation with collateral generational damage.” Narrating
the recruitment pathway being used by traffickers, she explained, “In the first stage, victims are contacted via
social media job-listing pages promising overseas employment, post-graduate scholarships, customer service roles or
remote work. “Recruiters arrange visa and flights through a local escort, and passports are confiscated on arrival.
The second stage involves digital grooming through encrypted messaging apps to build trust, isolate the victim from
family, and finalise travel terms. “The third stage involves a travel facilitation fee through informal money-transfer
agents and crypto wallets. The final stage is exploitation at the destination; victims are held in fenced compounds and
forced to run romance and investment scams under constant threat.” On domestic enforcement, Bello said NAPTIP’s
Cyber Response Team had disrupted several scam centres being groomed as “fraud academies” within Nigeria, arresting
operators of Yahoo Plus, Yahoo Extra and Hustle Kingdom networks who were training young men in financially and sexually
motivated extortion. She confirmed that those arrested were being prosecuted. “A few months ago, I personally led an
operation, acting on credible intelligence, which resulted in the interception and rescue of 46 suspected victims of
human trafficking at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, who were being trafficked to security-challenged
countries in the Middle East. About 120 victims were also rescued in Kano,” she stated. On the prosecution record, the
DG said NAPTIP had secured a total of 839 convictions since its inception and 47 convictions between January and July
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three abducted minors “NAPTIP has demystified human traffickers, especially the so-called big fishes who were before
now regarded as untouchable. A few months ago, a high-profile trafficker and his wife were convicted in Ondo State, and
property worth millions of naira, including houses, was forfeited,” she said. The UNODC Country Representative, Cheik
Touré, said tackling trafficking required more than law enforcement. He said it demanded deliberate investment in
economic opportunity for young Nigerians. Touré said, “Trafficking thrives where legitimate opportunity is scarce.
Young people who cannot find decent jobs at home become the very population that traffickers seek out. “Every skill
acquired, every job created, and every opportunity opened at home is one less door left ajar for traffickers to exploit.
“Investing in youth is therefore not simply a development priority; it is a frontline defence against trafficking.”
He called on media organisations to adopt a survivor-centred reporting approach that avoided stigmatisation, saying,
“We need you to report right. We need you to report transparently. We need you to help hold people accountable and
promote narratives that restore dignity to those who have been exploited.” The IOM’s Chief of Mission, Dimanche
Sharon, disclosed that the Mission’s data consistently showed young people disproportionately affected, with those
aged 18 to 25 accounting for approximately 54 per cent of assisted trafficking victims, while those aged 18 to 49
comprised approximately 93 per cent of migrants supported by the organisation. “Since 2017, IOM has assisted more than
7,600 victims of trafficking in Nigeria, supporting their recovery through individualised, survivor-centred services
covering protection, victim identification, voluntary return where appropriate, rehabilitation, reintegration, capacity
building, and institutional strengthening,” the IOM Chief said. She stressed that victims compelled to participate in
online fraud schemes must be treated as victims, not offenders. “Trafficking for forced criminality is a form of
trafficking in persons. Victims compelled to participate in these activities remain victims and should be identified,
protected, and assisted rather than automatically criminalised,” she said. Meanwhile, the Head of Office of ICMPD
Nigeria, Isabelle Wolfsgruber, said the organisation had reached over 80,000 students, more than 1,000 teachers and
6,000 parents through the School Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project, funded by the Kingdom of the
Netherlands and operating across Benue, Delta, Edo, Enugu and Ogun states. A total of 136 School Anti-Trafficking
Vanguard Clubs had been established, with students leading peer conversations on trafficking risks, she stated. “In
Ogun State, a father lost his daughter to trafficking. Instead of letting grief silence him, he now works alongside our
civil society partner, visiting communities and telling his family’s story so that other parents can recognise the
warning signs before it is too late for them,” the ICMPD Chief said. Wolfsgruber also disclosed that ICMPD, working
with NAPTIP and CIVIPOL under EU and Netherlands funding, had trained over 345 investigators, prosecutors and judicial
officers, including on cybercrime and digital evidence increasingly relevant to modern trafficking cases. The First
Secretary on Migration at the Dutch Embassy, Sib Siebesma, outlined the Netherlands’ funding portfolio across five
counter-trafficking programmes in Nigeria, including the TIPVAP project through ICMPD, the STEAP school education
project, the COMPASS programme through IOM, the PROMIS programme through UNODC and the Office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights, and the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime project. Siebesma described the
Netherlands as a committed partner in Nigeria’s efforts to address both trafficking and irregular migration. The
programme of activities for the 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons includes a sensitisation exercise on July
24, a thanksgiving service on July 26, mass sensitisation in three Abuja area councils on July 28, an awareness walk
from the Old Parade Ground to Unity Fountain on July 29, the main commemoration on July 30, a survivors’ day out on
July 31 and a novelty football match with partners on August 1. Stephen Angbulu With three years of experience, Stephen,
The PUNCH correspondent, has been covering Nigeria’s presidency, politics, security, immigration and trafficking in
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