The Director-General of NAPTIP, Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, disclosed this while speaking  on the sidelines of the just concluded inaugural joint technical working group meeting on a memorandum signed between Nigeria and The Gambia, which was held in Abuja.

Waziri-Azi said it had been observed that human traffickers were now favouring the northern borders as opposed to the southern borders that used to be their haven.

Waziri said, “Historically, traffickers used border points in the southern part of the country like the Seme border to smuggle people out of Nigeria, but in the past five years, traffickers have moved from the South-West region of Nigeria to the North-West region of the country.

“So, we see a lot of trafficking happening through Jibia border in Katsina State, through Sokoto, Zamfara, Kongolom, a border town with Niger Republic and Zinder and Agadez in Niger Republic.”

She expressed the readiness to tackle the menace through collaborations with relevant stakeholders.

Yemi Osinbajo who was represented by the Special Adviser to the President on Rule of Law, Office of the Vice President, Fatima Waziri-Azi at the launch of the FLAG’IT App said that corruption and illicit financial flows out of Africa has led to poverty and lack of development witnessed across the continent.

He said “The 2019 Global Corruption Barometer on African citizens’ views and experiences of corruption highlights that while most of the people surveyed in 35 countries felt that corruption had increased in their country, a majority equally felt that they, as citizens, could make a difference in the fight against corruption. Only a few countries in the world can claim to have a low level of corruption and none of these countries is in Africa. It doesn’t matter how much revenue a country generates or how transformed it is or how progressive its plans, corruption will ensure that majority of the people do not benefit from whatever gains are made, which is why despite the highest oil revenues in our history, debt doubled and poverty figures rose. This is why the major pillar of this administration’s socio-economic agenda is the fight against corruption”.