By NAN
The International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP) on Tuesday in Abuja urged Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) to beware of human traffickers.
The call was made at the opening session of a two-day training workshop/capacity building organised by FIIAPP for executive members of Nigeria National Association of Deaf (NNAD).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that FIIAPP is a Spanish public foundation working on a project in Nigeria tagged “Action Against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants (A-TIPSOM), a project funded by the European Union (EU).
Mr Jose-Antonio Andeme, FIIAPP Institutional Coordinator, stated that the essence of the workshop was to intimate NNAD on how to identify human traffickers and the key issues in trafficking.
He said that the programme was also to let them know how to prevent the menace, policies put together and being developed by government and how government and law enforcement agencies are working against trafficking.
Andeme called on the association to join hands in the fight against the menace, adding that the trap of traffickers was not limited to anyone and that everyone is at risk of trafficking in Nigeria.
He said that the outcome of the two-day workshop would determine the foundation’s further collaboration and assistance with the deaf people.
The Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Mrs Fatima Waziri-Azi, noted that traffickers would always take the advantage of vulnerability in people to perpetrate their evil work.
The director general who was represented by Mr Josiah Emerole, the Director of Public Enlightenment, NAPTIP, called on PWDs to beware of tactics adopted by traffickers to get their victims.
“Traffickers will always look for such vulnerability like that of the PWDs to exploit, this is why it is necessary to disclosed the the menace of trafficking and to let you know how traffickers play their tactics.
“They will always come to promise better deal far better than what you are doing presently, these are all lies, they can even tell you that you will begin to hear when they take you out of your comfort zone.
“From your interrogation with these traffickers, you will be able to know whether what they are telling you is the truth or not, that is why a workshop like this is organised.
“NAPTIP as the focal government agency against human trafficking has been doing its best to create awareness in the local communities,” Waziri-Azi said.
Mr James Lalu, the Executive Secretary, National Commission for People With Disabilities (NCPWD), expressed his happiness over the workshop, adding that disability is not an immunity to commit crimes.
He said that the organiser of the workshop had taken the right steps and that NCPWD would continue to capitalise on the provisions of Section 16 of the Discrimination of Persons with Disability Prohibition Act.
Lalu said that persons with disability were working hard to partner with relevant agencies to ensure they are uplifted in the society.
“We are working with expert from the deaf communities to harmonise different languages present in Nigeria for us to come up with unique sign language.
“Sign language is our only means of communication, we must all come together to see how we can fight the discrimination against disability persons, we are open for further and more robust partnership,” he said. (NAN)