The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons said it had rescued a total of 200 trafficked children in Plateau State.
The Chairman of the State Council of Chiefs and Emirs and Gbong Gwom of Jos, Da Jacob Gyang Bubba disclosed this on Thursday after the state Commandant of NAPTIP, Adole Alexander, visited him at his palace in Jos, the state capital.
Following the development, the chairman called for the re-certification and revalidation of orphanages and charity homes in the state as a measure to get rid of traffickers who use these homes for all forms of criminalities against women and mostly children.
A statement issued by the monarch after the visit by NAPTIP officials and signed by his aide, Alex Rwang-Pam read, “A call has been made for the re-certification and revalidation of orphanages and charity homes as a measure to get rid of traffickers who use these homes for all forms of criminalities against women and mostly children.
“The Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jacob Gyang Buba made the call when he hosted Commandant and principal officers of the Plateau State Command of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP in his Palace in Jishe.
“The Monarch said trafficking in persons is an organized crime with a wide network of beneficiaries which requires huge intelligence gathering and stringent government policies and penalties to discourage perpetrators of the crime”.
According to the monarch, credible security reports have indicated that a number of orphanages across the country and even in Plateau State have been discovered to be baby-making factories rather than the charitable organisation they portray.
He commended the agency in the state for their intervention in rescuing quite a number of trafficked children and ensuring that most of them were reunited with their biological parents.
The monarch appealed to the National Assembly to make laws that will persecute not only the criminals convicted of trafficking in persons, but also those parents who intentionally trafficked or give out their wards for such criminality.
The statement quoted the State Commandant of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Mr. Adole Alexander as highlighting some of the achievements of his agency in the state to include “rescuing of about 200 trafficked children mostly from Riyom and Bassa Local Government Areas, the prosecution in Court of a foreigner who abused a minor as well as the discovery of a baby factory in Gwarandok area of Jos amongst others”
The statement further quoted the state Commandant as saying “the agency has the capacity to do more but as a new Command they are faced with lack of operational vehicles to effect mass arrests as well as a secured office accommodation facility to keep in custody those under detention”
