The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says it rescued 156 victims of human trafficking between January and July 2026, while more than 300 trafficked Nigerians were repatriated from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in 2025.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello, disclosed this on Wednesday during a press briefing in Abuja ahead of the 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, observed annually on July 30.
The event brought together representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Speaking on this year’s theme, “Trapped Behind the Scam,” Bello warned that human trafficking had evolved beyond traditional forms of exploitation, with criminal syndicates increasingly targeting educated Nigerian youths through fraudulent online job offers.
She explained that many victims are deceived with promises of lucrative careers abroad in information technology, digital marketing, customer service, cryptocurrency trading, telecommunications and gaming.
According to her, once the victims arrive in their destination countries, particularly in parts of Southeast Asia, they discover that the jobs do not exist.
“Their passports are seized, their movements restricted, and they are forced through threats, intimidation, violence, debt bondage and psychological coercion to engage in sophisticated online scams targeting unsuspecting people around the world,” Bello said.
The NAPTIP boss described the development as a growing national security concern, noting that trafficking networks now rely heavily on digital platforms and encrypted messaging applications to recruit victims.
She said more than 300,000 people are trafficked into scam compounds across Southeast Asia every year, generating an estimated $64 billion in illicit proceeds.
According to Bello, victims from about 66 countries have been identified in the scam compounds, with nearly 74 per cent of the facilities located in the Mekong region, particularly Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos.
She added that victims who fail to meet criminal targets are often subjected to severe abuse.
“Some are kept in solitary confinement, tortured, sexually assaulted and, in extreme cases, have their organs harvested,” she said.
Bello explained that traffickers typically lure victims through fake social media recruitment pages advertising overseas jobs, scholarships or remote work opportunities before arranging travel and confiscating their passports on arrival.
She added that recruitment also involves digital grooming through encrypted messaging platforms, while payments are processed through informal money transfer channels and cryptocurrency wallets before victims are transported to foreign countries where they are forced into online fraud.
On enforcement efforts within Nigeria, Bello disclosed that NAPTIP’s Cyber Response Team had dismantled several illegal centres operating as “fraud academies,” where young people were allegedly trained in internet fraud and sexually motivated extortion.
She said operators of networks known as Yahoo Plus, Yahoo Extra and Hustle Kingdom had been arrested and were facing prosecution.
The NAPTIP chief also recalled a recent operation she personally led at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, which led to the rescue of 46 suspected trafficking victims who were being transported to conflict-prone countries in the Middle East.
She added that another 120 victims were rescued during a separate operation in Kano State.
Providing an update on prosecutions, Bello said the agency had secured 47 convictions between January and July 2026, bringing its total convictions since inception to 839.
She also cited the recent conviction of a high-profile trafficker and his wife in Ondo State, with several properties worth millions of naira forfeited to the government.
Also speaking, the Country Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Cheik Touré, stressed that combating human trafficking requires more than arrests and prosecutions.
He said expanding economic opportunities for young people would reduce their vulnerability to traffickers.
“Trafficking thrives where legitimate opportunities are scarce. Every job created and every skill acquired closes another door that traffickers seek to exploit,” he said.
Touré also urged journalists to adopt survivor-centred reporting by avoiding narratives that stigmatise victims while promoting accountability.
The Chief of Mission of the International Organisation for Migration, Dimanche Sharon, said young people remain the most affected by trafficking, noting that those aged between 18 and 25 account for about 54 per cent of assisted victims.
She disclosed that since 2017, the organisation had supported more than 7,600 trafficking victims in Nigeria through protection, rehabilitation, reintegration and voluntary return programmes.
Sharon further emphasised that individuals forced into online fraud schemes should be recognised and treated as victims rather than criminals.
The Head of Office of ICMPD Nigeria, Isabelle Wolfsgruber, said the organisation had reached over 80,000 students, 1,000 teachers and 6,000 parents through its School Anti-Trafficking Education and Advocacy Project implemented across Benue, Delta, Edo, Enugu and Ogun states.
She added that 136 anti-trafficking clubs had been established in schools to educate students on the dangers of human trafficking.
Wolfsgruber also disclosed that ICMPD, in partnership with NAPTIP and CIVIPOL, had trained more than 345 investigators, prosecutors and judicial officers on cybercrime investigations and the use of digital evidence in trafficking cases.
The First Secretary on Migration at the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Sib Siebesma, reaffirmed his country’s commitment to supporting Nigeria’s anti-trafficking efforts through multiple programmes implemented in collaboration with NAPTIP, ICMPD, IOM, UNODC and other international partners.
NAPTIP announced that activities marking the 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons will include public sensitisation campaigns, community outreach, an awareness walk, a thanksgiving service, a survivors’ day and a novelty football match with partner organisations.
