The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) Jigawa Command rescued 147 human trafficking victims in the state in 2025.
NAPTIP Commander Abdulkadir Turajo disclosed this on Tuesday in Dutse while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
According to the Turajo, victims were reunited with their families after receiving comprehensive counseling. He said the command also secured the conviction of a 30-year-old Nigerien, Hassan Alhassan of Garin Idi Village, Niger Republic.
Alhassan was convicted for attempting to transfer a male victim from Kano Sate through the Maigatari border in Jigawa to libya, through Magarya in Zinder State of Niger Republic.
“We recorded 37 cases of trafficking. We recorded 11 border area interceptions and referrals by the Nigeria Immigration Service which involved a total of 97 persons,” the commander said. He said the command carried out 49 awareness campaigns in communities across the state, targeting schools, markets, mosques, churches, and motor parks. “Trafficking in persons has re-emerged in recent times as a modern form of slavery.
“It is a crime which includes all acts involved in the recruitment, transportation (within or across borders) purchase, sale, transfer, and harboring of persons, involving the use of deception, coercive or debt bondage for the purpose of placing or holding a person in forced or bonded labor or in slavery like conditions.
“It is essential that all stakeholders support NAPTIP Jigawa Command to effectively tackle human trafficking in the state,” Turajo said.
He described human trafficking as one of the world’s most dangerous crimes, posing a serious threat to national security and public safety.
“Human trafficking also fuels public sector corruption, irregular migration, undermines human capital development, promotes social breakdown and exclusion, and results in a shortage of skilled manpower.
“It degrades human dignity, violates human rights, spreads diseases, tarnishes the nation’s image, and often links to larger organized crimes such as drug trafficking, arms conflicts, terrorism, kidnapping, money laundering, and other financial crimes,” he added.
Turajo noted that NAPTIP serves as the federal government’s primary law enforcement agency tasked with combating human trafficking nationwide.