Group
CEO, United Capital Plc. Oluwatoyin Sanni (left); Founder, The Tony
Elumelu Foundation, Mr. Tony Elumelu; and Director General of NAPTIP,
Julie Okah-Donli during the visit of DG to the foundation in Lagos on Thursday;
Tony Elumelu: Human Trafficking Is Evil, It Strips Our Youth Of Dignity And Denies Them Opportunity
Tony Elumelu Foundation commits to support National Agency for the... Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
In
recognition of the growing concerns around human trafficking in Africa,
The Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF), an African founded and funded 21st
century philanthropic organization committed to youth empowerment and
entrepreneurship development, hosted the Director General of Nigeria’s
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP),
Julie Okah-Donli.
According
to Okah-Donli, UNESCO ranks human trafficking as the third most
lucrative criminal enterprise in Nigeria. Thus, agencies like NAPTIP
need good laws, sustained funding and equally important, critical
support from local and global stakeholders to execute the urgent war
against human trafficking. “We can no longer wait for government alone
to fight this war. Many victims are on standby, anxious to be fully
reintegrated into society. At the agency, we are desperate for
assistance to empower and rehabilitate these millions of victims in
need. Thus, we are identifying and approaching organizations like the
Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) for support.”
She
continued: “We need to refurbish and rehabilitate our existing
shelters, facilitate periodic provision of food, clothing and medical
consumables and shelter for victims. We also need assistance in the
development of standard skills’ acquisition centres in strategic
locations for the training of vulnerable persons, as well as rescued
victims.”
In
response, Mr. Tony Elumelu CON, Founder, Tony Elumelu Foundation,
commended Okah-Donli for her accomplishments at the agency, including
the conviction of over 325 persons, and successful rehabilitation of
more than 12,000 victims. He also added that she was a former staff of
leading pan-African bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA). “She is an
alumna of the United Bank for Africa (UBA), Africa’s global bank, thus
we are not surprised at what she has become. We predicted that she
will attain such great heights because of the passion she has always had
for human trafficking,” he said
On
behalf of the Foundation, he pledged commitment to the war against
human trafficking. “We support what you are doing and we stand behind
you. The Tony Elumelu Foundation believes in the empowerment of our
youths and as we all know, they cannot be empowered if they are not
free.” “We stand with you in eradicating human trafficking in Nigeria
and will engage extensively with you as you work to restore dignity to
mankind, protect the dignity of our youth and ensure no one can take
undue advantage of them.”
He
also made an appeal to the government to increase budgetary funding to
the cash-strapped agency. “I call on the Federal Government to make more
resources available to support you. As private companies, we pay taxes
to the Federal Government and we want to see a more judicious use of the
taxes paid.”
Elumelu
also urged other private sector players to join the agency to fight
human trafficking, assuring them of the credibility and competency of
NAPTIP and its DG whom he could vouch for. “If she succeeds, we will all
succeed. Let us come together to make sure our youth, our future
leaders, are not trafficked.”
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