Abimbola Adewumi, project coordinator for UNODC Promise Project of Nigeria made the call at a stakeholders dialogue with the deputy governor of Kerewan and his counterparts at the Governor’s office in North Bank Region.
“The government should initiate an empowerment program with other European countries such as vocational skill empowerment for university students, which we have in Nigeria. In this empowerment program, they take the youth through engineering training that can be useful in countries abroad. They get certified and are able to travel and come back as great engineers. They able to work with the government and contribute to national development,” she explained.
She also suggested that the government establish state task forces which are made up of Law Enforcement Agencies in the regions, CSOs, traditional rulers, market women, among other people that hold influential positions at various communities.
This she said would help the central government to do the work of prevention, empowerment and protection.
“When you rescue traffic victims, they go through counselling, but they need to go back to their various regions and communities and that is where the task force comes in, because they will be doing the follow up to ensure that they are not re-trafficked because severally we come across TIP survivors after being empowered, get re-trafficked again but with availability of these task force they are able to do that follow up to prevent such scenarios.”
“We currently have 24 of those task forces establish in Nigeria. It is not easy to fight TIP and SOM because most of them are done by family members and when the case is charged they will claim to settle out of court,” she added.
Fatou Geo Barry, project coordinator for UNODC Promise Project, The Gambia said migration is not a bad thing because it brings development across the globe. “Thus, the irregular migration is what we are discouraging people from embarking on.”
“Economically, the smugglers are the ones taking all the benefits because the remittances do not come back to the Gambian economy. They get the money and load it into offshore accounts and spend it there,” he explained.
Seedy Bojang, representative of the National Agency Against Trafficking in Person (NAATIP) said they are involved mainly in the investigation of TIP as they are not mandated to prosecute traffickers.
“We work on the four Ps, which are Protection, Prevention, Partnership and Prosecution. We receive complaints of cases both national and international that expose the victims to hard labour, slavery, among other human rights violations,” he explained.
“We are committed to fight against TIP cases to progress in society.”
Ansumana Kinteh, police commissioner for North Bank Region said irregular migration is also affecting the security sector. “We have received information of our security personnels embarking on this perilous journey to Europe, and this could handicap our security,” he flagged.
Ismaila Njie, vice president for the Gambia Cyber Security Alliance (GCSA) said they are committed to fight TIP and SoM cases in the cyber world as most of the culprits prey their targets online.
He encouraged people to be mindful of the information they benefit from online.
The engagements unfolds as The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in partnership with The Gambia Cyber Security Alliance (GCSA), University Law Students, NAATIP and Gambia Immigration Department among other organisations continue a nationwide tour.
