The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has listed Edo, Kano and Delta as three states topping in human trafficking index.
Quoting statistics from the Nigeria Country Report of Human Trafficking 2019, NAPTIP said 11,819 Nigerians were rescued from human traffickers up till December 2018.
It said Edo State accounted for one-fifth (21 per cent) of the rescued victims, Kano, 10 per cent and Delta, 7.2 per cent.
Further breakdown of figures of rescued victims by their states of origin shows that the south-south geo-political zone of Edo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River and Rivers states are foremost for human trafficking with 40.7 per cent of the total number of victims.
The northwest zone of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara contributed 19.8 per cent, with Kano leading the other states with 1,114 victims.
“From inception to December 2018, NAPTIP has received 11,819 Nigerian victims of trafficking. One-fifth of the Nigerian victims are indigenes of Edo State and about one-tenth of the victims are from Kano State. Other states with significant percentages include Akwa Ibom, 8.1; Delta, 7.2; Benue, 4.3; Imo, 4.2; and Cross River, 4.2.
“In numbers, Cross River has 486 victims, Delta, 855, Imo, 509, Ogun 286, and Sokoto, 347 victims. The South-East has 16.7 per cent of all the victims. Other zones – North-Central, South-West and North-East recorded 10.1, 8.9 and 3.8 per cents respectively.
“Women and children are the most vulnerable in the victims of human trafficking. This is evident following the distribution where 71.2 per cent of rescued victims are females and 50.3 per cent are children,” said NAPTIP.
The report also highlighted 39 countries from where some of the victims were rescued, with Libya, Mali, the United Arab Emirates, Niger Republic and Burkina Faso topping the list.
The document showed that 2,389 victims were rescued by the agency from the five countries.
Libya had 568, Mali, 258; UAE, 184; Niger, 278, and Burkina Faso 196 victims.
