By Oghenefejiro Okoh
Delta State Government has assured it will continue to partner with relevant agencies to tackle the menace of human trafficking in the state.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG) Chief Patrick Ukah, gave the assurance yesterday in Asaba when the Executive Chairman, Roost Foundation, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, and members of the State Task Force on Human Trafficking paid him a courtesy visit in his office.
Ukah noted that the best way to tackle the menace of human trafficking in the state was to prevent it and stressed the urgent need for a concerted effort to step up the prevention methods.
He said that the state government, on its part, had taken proactive measures to curb the menace of human trafficking through the relevant government agencies by establishing skills acquisition and youth’s empowerment schemes in the state to engage the people meaningfully.
The SSG, who commended the chairman of the foundation for making schools the target of its sensitisation exercise, said that efforts should be made to reach out to traditional institutions, whom he noted, had effective means of communicating with their subjects to make the advocacy on human trafficking effective in the state.
Secretary to the Delta State Government, Chief Patrick Ukah (3rd left), listening to the Chief Executive Officer of Roost Foundation, Dame Okah-Donli, (2nd left) while she made her presentation during a courtesy visit by ffoundation and members of the State Task Force on Human Trafficking
Earlier, Dame Okah-Donli, the erstwhile Director General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), commended the state government for its effort in the fight against human trafficking.
She noted that Delta State Government had a well-established task force, including professionals and security agencies, saying that such arrangement could tackle the menace.
Donli said that her foundation was proposing a state-wide prevention and sensitisation campaign to all the local government areas in the state to sensitize the people on the dangers of human trafficking.
Source: information.Deltastate.gov.ng (@delmininfo)