The Federal Government has launched a new regional initiative with France to strengthen Nigeria’s fight against human trafficking, with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) warning that criminal networks are increasingly exploiting digital platforms, irregular migration channels and vulnerable populations to expand their operations.
The PROTECT Regional Project, funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) and implemented by Expertise France, seeks to move Nigeria’s anti-trafficking response beyond the arrest of individual suspects to the disruption of the networks, financial systems and cross-border partnerships that sustain the exploitation of victims.
The five-country intervention, covering Nigeria, Benin, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Togo, was formally launched on Monday in Nigeria at a validation workshop on diagnostic assessments held in Abuja.
Speaking at the event, NAPTIP’s Director-General, Binta Adamu-Bello, said the changing nature of human trafficking required institutions responsible for prevention, investigation, prosecution and victim protection to evolve at the same pace as emerging threats.
She said traffickers were increasingly using social media and other digital platforms to recruit, communicate with and exploit victims, while also taking advantage of economic hardship, unemployment, conflicts, displacement and irregular migration channels.
“Trafficking is no longer confined to identifiable physical locations or traditional recruitment methods,” Adamu-Bello said, stressing that the growing use of technology had made the crime more complex and difficult to combat.
The NAPTIP boss said the agency had intensified public enlightenment across communities, schools, markets, transport corridors, religious institutions and other vulnerable locations, while expanding the use of radio, television and social media to reach young people targeted by traffickers.
She said NAPTIP also continued to provide skills acquisition, educational opportunities, family tracing and sustainable reintegration services for victims and survivors, but acknowledged that more needed to be done.
Adamu-Bello, however, identified delays in the judicial process as a major concern, saying some trafficking cases remained unresolved for extended periods.
She called for greater support from the judiciary and prosecutorial institutions to ensure timely conclusion of cases and effective accountability for perpetrators.
The Director-General said the agency was strengthening its investigative capacity to respond to technology-facilitated recruitment, exploitation and other crimes committed through digital platforms.
But she argued that effective enforcement must also target the financial foundations of trafficking.
According to her, Nigeria’s response must increasingly move beyond arresting individual traffickers to identifying, tracing and recovering the proceeds of trafficking and dismantling the criminal enterprises that finance and sustain exploitation.
“The greatest value of the project will be measured not simply by the number of activities conducted, but by the extent to which it leaves behind stronger institutions, better coordination, improved systems and more effective protection of vulnerable persons and survivors,” she said.
The intervention is built around five major components: strengthening institutional coordination and gender sensitivity; improving the criminal justice chain; preventing trafficking and protecting victims and survivors; enhancing bilateral, cross-border and regional cooperation; and improving the production and analysis of quality data and knowledge.
Adamu-Bello said the project would strengthen digital systems, improve data collection and support evidence-based policy development, operational planning and resource allocation.
She also urged ministries, departments and agencies to integrate anti-trafficking measures into relevant government policies and programmes, stressing that prevention and victim protection must remain part of broader national development efforts.
The NAPTIP boss called on state and local government authorities to strengthen community-level prevention, while urging civil society organisations to continue supporting awareness creation, victim assistance, advocacy, research and community-based interventions.
She tasked the media with responsible reporting that protects the privacy and dignity of victims and survivors, and encouraged traditional and religious leaders to support community awareness and prevention efforts.
“Prevention begins with awareness, vigilance and the willingness to report suspicious activities,” she said.
In his welcome address, NAPTIP’s Director of Research and Programme Development, Josiah Emerole, said the workshop marked the culmination of extensive consultations undertaken during the project’s inception phase.
Emerole said the diagnostic assessments were designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of Nigeria’s existing counter-trafficking challenges and identify areas requiring urgent intervention.
He said the findings reflected the experiences of survivors, frontline practitioners and professionals involved in the fight against trafficking.
According to him, the workshop was expected to produce stakeholder consensus on the proposed Nigerian Action Plan and Theory of Change, as well as prepare the groundwork for formal adoption of the instruments by the PROTECT Nigerian Committee.
He said the committee was scheduled to meet on September 22, 2026, for the formal adoption process.
The PROTECT Regional Project Manager at Expertise France, Modeste Krah, said the workshop marked both the validation of the project’s inception-phase work and the official launch of implementation in Nigeria.
Krah recalled that between 2019 and 2024, Expertise France worked with NAPTIP and other national and international stakeholders under an earlier anti-trafficking project funded by the European Union and France.
He said the partnership produced digital reporting mechanisms, toll-free reporting lines and other interventions aimed at strengthening trafficking prevention and control infrastructure.
He added that the experience also exposed areas requiring additional support and stronger cooperation, leading to the development of PROTECT.
Krah said trafficking networks were becoming increasingly sophisticated and connected to other forms of organised crime, with digital technologies and online platforms being used to recruit and control victims.
He stressed that strong laws and institutions alone were insufficient, calling for stronger inter-agency cooperation, better use of digital information systems, enhanced investigative and prosecutorial capacities, and effective mechanisms for identifying, referring and protecting victims.
He said the diagnostic assessments focused on institutional coordination, governance and asset recovery, digital systems and emerging trafficking trends, and gender considerations.
According to him, the assessments would provide the evidence base for determining priority areas and identifying where the project could provide meaningful support.
Krah emphasised that the validation process was not simply about endorsing reports, but about critically examining findings, challenging assumptions, strengthening the proposed Theory of Change and Action Plan, and ensuring that priorities reflected Nigeria’s realities and institutional needs.
He said the project was not intended to create parallel structures or duplicate existing initiatives, but to strengthen Nigerian institutions, address identified gaps, build sustainable capacity and facilitate cooperation.
Krah also stressed the importance of regional cooperation, noting that human trafficking did not respect national borders.
He said the launch of PROTECT in Nigeria marked a new phase of partnership aimed at delivering tangible, measurable and sustainable results, urging participants to ensure that agreed priorities translated into concrete improvements in trafficking prevention, investigation and prosecution, as well as protection and assistance for victims and survivors.
