Nigeria’s acting Inspector general of police, Mohammed Adamu, has called for local and global collaboration in the fight against human trafficking in Nigeria and around the world.
He made the statement while declaring open a capacity building training workshop on ‘’Countering Trafficking in Human Beings and Migrant Smuggling in Nigeria’’ organized by the International Criminal Police Organization, INTERPOL in Abuja.
The workshop, tailored towards strengthening inter-agency collaborative efforts and exploring new path ways in addressing national and global security concerns in a coordinated manner, had in attendance participants drawn from the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration Services, Nigeria Customs Service, Ministry of Justice, National Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), and representatives of INTERPOL World Headquarters based in Lyon, France.
The IGP pledged to deploy the unique intelligence and operational assets of the Force towards combating the scourge of trafficking in human beings and migrant smuggling in Nigeria.
He noted that human trafficking and migrant smuggling have critical national security and developmental implications and require sustained intervention action built on capacity development and mutual cooperation amongst security agencies.
The IGP therefore observed that there is need for galvanizing all relevant security agencies and strengthening strategic local and global partnership towards dissecting, developing strategies and emplacing sustainable action towards addressing the scourge of trafficking in human begins and migrant smuggling in Nigeria.
He further pledged to continue to provide operational support to all agencies involved in combating the menace, to enable them achieve their statutory mandate
In his welcome address, the acting Head of the National Central Bureau (NCB), INTERPOL Nigeria, Lanre Bankole, a deputy commissioner of Police, while underscoring the necessity of the workshop thanked the IGP for graciously granting approval for the hosting of the 4-days capacity building workshop.