The Delta State Government has urged 150 subject teachers drawn from 50 selected secondary schools across the state to play an active role in preventing human trafficking through the Schools Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project, STEAP.
The taskforce comprises the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, the Department of State Services, DSS, the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, the You Matter Foundation, traditional rulers, faith-based organisations and other relevant stakeholders.
The Attorney-General and Chairman of the Delta State Taskforce on Human Trafficking and Irregular Migration, Ekemejero Ohwovoriole, gave the charge at the closing ceremony of the first-batch training held in Asaba. He stressed that teachers must positively impact their students through the effective application of the skills acquired during the ongoing Trafficking in Persons, TIP, content training and capacity-building sessions under STEAP.
Represented by a taskforce member and Director-General of the Delta State Bureau for Orientation and Communications, Barr. Fred Oghenesivbe, the Attorney-General stated that the state government was working tirelessly to eliminate traffickers and their collaborators from Delta State.
Ohwovoriole explained that the STEAP training aligns with government objectives to ensure teachers are adequately grounded in implementing the project through strategic training and sustainable capacity-building programmes. He emphasised that the initiative equips teachers with the required methodologies, pedagogical tools and approaches needed to effectively deliver TIP content embedded in the revised basic education curriculum.
He assured participants that efforts would be intensified in the coming year to expand advocacy through regular engagements with traditional rulers, local government chairmen, faith-based organisations and other stakeholders, thereby driving the message to grassroots communities. He also thanked NERDC, NAPTIP, ICMPD and other partners, particularly the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for their resilience in strengthening teachers’ capacities under STEAP, while urging teachers to build cordial relationships with students to extract useful information for the success of the programme.
Earlier, the Director-General of NAPTIP, Hajia Binta Adamu Bello, represented by Mrs Roku Odugbesan, said the workshop formed part of broader efforts to safeguard children and strengthen national responses to human trafficking through education. She noted that over 55 per cent of identified trafficking victims are school-aged children, adding that NAPTIP and NERDC have collaborated to develop and integrate TIP content into curricula across basic and senior secondary schools nationwide.
The project manager of STEAP, Rhoda Dia-Johnson, disclosed that more than 75 per cent of trafficking victims in West Africa are children. She explained that empowering teachers as educators and child-protection advocates helps to create safer school environments, build resilient communities and break the cycle of trafficking.
She said the training focuses on equipping teachers to deliver TIP content using effective methodologies and tools aimed at preventing trafficking by educating children and communities, fostering safe environments and supporting victims.
Members of the Delta State Taskforce present at the training programme included Barr. Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe, HAG Representative and Director-General of the Delta State Bureau for Orientation and Communications; Barr. Lawrentta Ogbedo, Director-General of the You Matter Charity Foundation; and Mrs Ijeoma Nwanze, Secretary, Delta State Taskforce on Human Trafficking and Irregular Migration.
