NAPTIP TO PARTNER ABIA STATE

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related offences (NAPTIP) has reiterated its desire to partner with the Abia Government to end child abuse in the State. Speaking at the Sixth Abia Women Integrated Conference/Pre-August meetingin Umuahia on Tuesday, Mrs. Nkiruka Michael, the South East Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, said cases of child trafficking and labour were on the increase. Michael explained that more than eight million children in Nigeria were involved in various forms of abuse. She said that NAPTIP had prosecuted more than 100 cases of child trafficking, adding that 200 victims in the zone had been rehabilitated. The commander said the cases had direct bearing on the proliferation of illegal maternity homes and appealed to the state government to take steps to ban such homes. "There must be a dedicated effort on the part of the government and other bodies to solve the socio-economic problems which contribute to the problem,'' she said. Michael said the government needed to enforce the existing laws on the right to education for the child as provided for in the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In her speech, Mrs. Odochi Orji, the wife of the State Governor, called onrelevant government agencies to scrutinize the procedure for there registration of motherless babies' homes. Mrs. Odochi Orji called for the review of the processes of child adoption in order tosave future generations. She said the idea was to identify the fake from the genuine and help toabolish the illegal business of child trafficking and close all baby factories in the society. Mrs. Odochi Orji said it was immoral for a woman to sell her child because of poverty and appealed to the womenfolk to discourage their peers