A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF THE TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS (PROHIBITION & ENFORCEMENT) ADMINISTRATION ACT, 2015 (TIPEA) AND THE 2021 DATA ANALYSIS REPORT BY NAPTIP

Abstract

Nigeria is known to be a major player in the cross-border trafficking crime, a point of transition through which persons are trafficked into and from to other countries and/or a passage route to other syndicates. Its feeble socio-political structures, weak enforcement institutions and porous immigration borders all accounts for the rise in human trafficking yearly. The re-enactment of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition & Enforcement) Administration Act, 2015 (TIPEA) and establishment of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) was meant to enhance prevention, prohibition, prosecution and finally eradication of human trafficking, but the obvious is diametrical. The shortfalls in the NAPTIP’s attempt at achieving its objective are all laid bare in its reports, specifically the 2021 Data analysis report examined herein. Employing doctrinal approach, this paper evaluated the TIPEA and the reports of the NAPTIP which reflects its institutional travail in combating trafficking, in determining the adequacy of the legal and institutional framework and how well it has achieved its set objectives. Nevertheless, the provisions of TIPEA, which is a prototype of the International Trafficking Protocol is an improvement from the former NAPTIP Act 2003, have been found to be deficit, and inadequate and NAPTIP inconsistent in the implementation of the Act in preventing and prosecuting TIP and the rehabilitation of victims of TIP as revealed in the report. This paper emphasizes the need to for NAPTIP to conscientiusly promote public awareness and strenghten partnership with other law enforcement bodies and community stakeholders in this war as well as adopt a right-based approach in the treatment of victims and witnesses of TIP.