Chairman Police Service Commission (PSC) Mr Solomon Arase has tasked the Federal Government to intensify efforts in the war against human trafficking.
Arase, also a former Inspector General of Police spoke during the launch of the book “We Are Priceless”, authored by award-winning journalist, Juliana Francis.
He described human trafficking as an organised crime that must be discouraged by the government while calling for stiffer punishments for human traffickers.
According to him, this will serve as a deterrent to others.
Arase said the government must train and equip law enforcement officers to mitigate crime in the country.
“I feel happy that we are beginning to put on the table tropical issues that have to do with crime and criminality.
‘’This has been affecting the image of the country and a lot of people have lost their lives in the process of dealing with this issue of child abuse and taking them out of their habitat.
“And we are going to appeal to everybody to see how we can put this book in all the primary and secondary schools in the country. So that people will start learning the dangers of not taking care of their siblings.
“Parents must learn to profile people coming to take their children. You don’t just give your child to anybody and say he wants to take him or her to the city. You need to know what the person does for a living, his background and their pedigree.
“This is really an organised crime and it is something we have to really discourage, and we have to put our hands on it. We have to train our law enforcement officers to be able to know the signs of this crime, in order to mitigate the issue,” he said.
On her part, author of the book, Juliana Francis, said: “It is a family book, whereby everybody can read and be able to educate somebody.
‘’Imagine a society where everyone is talking about one issue and reading the book and you are seeing the red flags.
“So, if someone is coming to say I’m taking your child abroad, you should be asking yourself what is the motive. I think the impact is that everybody should become more enlightened about issues that have to do with human trafficking.”
Also, Mr Godwin Morka, a retired director of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), called for collective responsibility in combating the crime.
“There is a need for a concerted effort by all to stop human trafficking. It is doing great damage to Nigerian youths, particularly the female gender.
“The book launched by Francis is one way to the directive, others should join in any capacity in fighting the menace,” he said.
Similarly, former Senior Special Adviser to former president Muhammadu Buhari, Mr Femi Adesina, said human trafficking has done serious havoc to families and suggested that traffickers caught by security agencies should be seriously punished and not allowed to go scot-free.
The former Managing Editor, of The Sun Publishing Ltd., praised the author for taking the time to publish the book “We Are Priceless”.
He called on the government to endorse the book into the school curriculum, especially in secondary schools.
“This is a great advocacy book in the war against child trafficking and some other anti-social acts in the country.
‘’The book should be adopted as resource material by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and other relevant security agencies.
‘’And if it ends in the school curriculum as a recommended text for secondary schools, it would also be a great idea.
“As the book highlights the evils of whoredom and child trafficking, it also traces the source majorly to dysfunctional families, poverty, lack of care for children, the get-rich-quick syndrome, and other ills,” Adesina said.
The author, Francis, said that she was raped at a tender age but could not tell anybody but after graduating from university she started covering NAPTIP.
“I saw girls being trafficked and raped and that was how what happened to me made me passionately to have interest to start covering NAPTIP and the girls.
“I saw a 10-year-old girl kept in a hotel, being violated and raped by white men and her madam was collecting dollars from them,” she said.
She said there was a need to start to educate the girls, adding: ‘’We need to start to educate our girls so that when someone tells them he wants to take them abroad they should know nothing is wrong.”
She urged parents to be careful and not just release their children to men or anybody who wants to take them abroad and foot the traveling bills.
