The Director General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Binta Bello, has warned that Nigeria’s fight against human trafficking will continue to suffer setbacks unless the country adopts uniform, reliable standards for evidence handling across all levels of law enforcement.
Speaking in Lagos at the opening of a capacity-building workshop for NAPTIP investigators, prosecutors, and partner agencies, Bello said inconsistent procedures and weak evidence management practices, particularly at the state level, remain some of the biggest obstacles to securing convictions in Trafficking in Persons (TiP) and Violence Against Persons (VAP) cases.
She noted that frequent breaches in the chain of custody often render otherwise solid cases inadmissible in court.
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The workshop, held at Amber Residence, Ikeja, was organised by the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in partnership with NAPTIP, with support from the Ministry of Asylum and Migration of the Kingdom of the Netherlands under the TIPVAP NG project.
Bello highlighted that the increasing reliance on technology by trafficking networks has compounded investigative challenges, as offenders now exploit encrypted communication channels, social media platforms, and digital payment systems to hide their identities and operations.
She stressed that only a harmonised approach to evidence preservation and cyber-investigation would enable agencies to outsmart traffickers.
According to her, “The complex nature of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and Violence Against Persons (VAP) demands a multi-disciplinary response that brings together diverse expertise and perspectives.”
Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Lawal Pedro, SAN, commended ICMPD and the Netherlands for their support, pledging continued collaboration with NAPTIP through the state’s task force on human trafficking.
Project Manager of ICMPD, Tunde Omoyeni, emphasised the importance of collaboration among agencies, saying that successful counter-trafficking efforts depend on shared expertise and mutual trust.
The Consul-General of the Netherlands in Lagos, Michel Deelen, praised NAPTIP’s strides and reaffirmed his government’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s anti-trafficking operations.
The four-day workshop aims to enhance cyber-investigative competencies, strengthen inter-agency coordination, and raise the standards of evidence management to improve prosecution outcomes in trafficking and VAP cases.
