The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons on Wednesday said it has rescued 156 victims of human trafficking since January 2026 and repatriated over 300 others from Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire in 2025.
This was as it warned that criminal networks had moved the frontlines of exploitation from brothels and farms into the digital space, where educated, tech-savvy Nigerian graduates were now being lured into scam compounds across Southeast Asia.
Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello, disclosed this at a pre-World Day Against Trafficking in Persons press conference held at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, where she received representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Organisation for Migration, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as part of activities leading to the 2026 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, observed annually on July 30.
The theme for this year’s commemoration is ‘Trapped Behind the Scam.’
She said, “Many young people, particularly educated and highly skilled youths, are lured with promises of lucrative employment opportunities abroad in information technology, digital marketing, customer service, cryptocurrency trading, gaming or telecommunications.
