By Rotimi Ojomoyela

Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Mr. Adeoye Aribasoye, yesterday, advocated a stronger inter-agency collaboration among security agencies to tackle the menace of human trafficking in the state.

The speaker stated this when he received the Head of the Ekiti State Liaison Office of the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, Mr. Samson Ademola, who led other senior officials of the agency on a courtesy visit.

Aribasoye said the Assembly would partner with NAPTIP to reduce the incidents of human trafficking.

The Speaker identified a stronger and more efficient collaboration among security agencies like the Nigeria Police, Department of State Services, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Nigeria Immigration Service among others as very key to reducing and stamping out human trafficking in the state.

He identified the areas the Assembly would partner with NAPTIP to include the convocation of a special plenary session on human trafficking that would involve stakeholders like the traditional institution, security agencies, justice system sector, civil society organizations, transport unions, market women associations, and student and youth bodies, among others.

He said: “Resolutions passed against human trafficking from such a special plenary would be passed to the relevant agencies and quarters for implementation urging the Ekiti office of the agency to invite the Director General of NAPTIP to be part of the special plenary to drive home the seriousness attached to the issue.”

Speaking earlier, the Head of Ekiti NAPTIP Liaison Office, Mr Ademola disclosed that this year’s World Trafficking Day coincided with the 20th anniversary of the establishment of NAPTIP in Nigeria and the need to scale up the fight against all forms of human trafficking.