NAPTIP Set to Open Registers for Child Abuse in Schools

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons; NAPTIP is set to open a register of child offenders in schools so as to have a stream of intelligence for profiling and detection of crime prevalent in certain locations in the country.Beatrice Jedy-Agba, NAPTIP Director General, mentioned this in Abuja at the opening ceremony of a one-day capacity building workshop for counsellors in schools in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.She said it has been discovered that most schools in the FCT do not have counsellors.According to Jedy-Agba, this has made matters of child protection, child trafficking and abuse difficult to tackle in schools hence the need to sensitize and train counsellors to act as advocates on trafficking and child protection matters.Jedy- Agba said the workshop which seeks to ensure a drastic reduction in cases of child trafficking and domestic child abuse cases involving school teachers, parents and guardians.“Steps are on to also establish anti-trafficking clubs in their respective schools for sustenance of the on-going crusade against the scourge of trafficking in persons.“There will also be awareness by school counsellors and head teachers on the current modus operandi of traffickers which will help them to chart a new road map to achieving a human trafficking free society for the future,” she said.