The EU Delegation in Nigeria has presented 50 desktop computers to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to enhance its operations.
Alam Munday, deputy head of EU delegation in Nigeria, handed over the equipment with six servers and network printers to the agency in Abuja on Tuesday.
NAPTIP received the donation under the EU funded project on Promoting Better Management of Migration in Nigeria.
The project is jointly implemented by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the International Organisation on Migration under the 10th European Development Fund (EDF) (2008-2013).
Munday said it was executed under the 10th EDF migration project in Nigeria, for which EU had committed five million euros for four years.
He said, “NAPTIP is EU key Nigerian agency partner when it comes to turning words into action to fight trafficking of human beings and smuggling of migrants as well as to protect the victims.
“To turn words into action, we need people with the very best information, data and access to use of the latest technologies available,’’ he said.
Munday thanked UNODC for supporting the project that would enable the agency’s headquarters in Abuja to obtain, manage and share data with five of its zonal offices.
He said with the new IT equipment NAPTIP staff in Abuja, Lagos, Enugu, Benin, Sokoto and Uyo could share data on trafficking in persons with other law enforcement agencies.
The UNODC Representative in Nigeria, Ms Mariam Sissoko, said the handover of the equipment marked “a major milestone’’ in the project to support the expansion of NAPTIP’s IT capacity and data management.
Sissoko said the handover served as evidence of NAPTIP’s willingness to fully assume responsibility in managing its IT services and equipment.
She recalled that under the project, a toll free call facility and internet access service had been upgraded and transferred to NAPTIP.
She said that a software, SIDDA.NET, which enables the agency to have access to information of both victims and suspects of trafficking had been fully upgraded.
Sissoko said UNODC and its partners had also provided training for NAPTIP staff on the use of the latest version of SIDDA.NET
Mrs Beatrice Jedy-Agba, NAPTIP executive secretary, who was represented by the Agency’s Director of Legal and Prosecution appealed to the EU to consider the agency’s request for more support in the 11th EDF.
She thanked the EU and UNODC for donating the equipment, saying “it will further strengthen the agency in the fight against human trafficking.
“We will continue to count on your support as we reassure you of this administration’s continued commitment in promoting better management of migration in Nigeria,’’ she said.
Jedy-Agba reassured international donors and partners of NAPTIP’s commitment to reduce irregular migration in Nigeria that usually occurred through trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.