We Rehabilitate Victims of Rape-Okah Donli
Following the rise in rape, child abuse and human trafficking in the country we had an online discussion with the Director-General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli and during the interview, she was asked what the core purpose of NAPTIP and she said: NAPTIP, means National Prohibition of Traffic In Person.
Donli said NAPTIP was created by the Federal Government of Nigeria in 2003 in response to the disturbing issue of human trafficking. And later on in 2015, we were given an additional mandate to fight all forms of violence and sexual and gender-based violence in Nigeria, especially within the FCT.
Donli also said: NAPTIP is a law enforcement agency and can also be described as a humanitarian agency in the sense that we have the powers to arrest, to rescue, to prosecute and to rehabilitate the victims of trafficking and victims of sexual and gender-based violence. We have all of this. She said.
We are the only agency that has this unique mandate, to prosecute and as well as rehabilitate victims.
Our agency has 9 offices and the headquarters in Abuja, every office has got a shelter attached to it because in this shelter we have trained counselors, trained nurses, and all staffs of NAPTIP whose job it is to counsel every victim of trafficking and everything of gender-based and sexual victim that goes through the shelter. Donli added.
Ayooluwa Joshua