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| NAPTIP Building |
Nigerians have been urged by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) not to hire domestic helpers younger than 12 years old.
On Thursday’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition commemoration in Abuja, its Director-General, Dr. Fatima Waziri-Azi, issued this warning.
“Modern Slavery: A Critical Appraisal of Domestic Staff in Nigeria” was the Day’s theme.
The Federal Ministry of Information and Culture organised it.
Waziri-Azi claimed that the statute establishing the agency forbade the employment of children under the age of twelve as domestic workers. He was represented by Mr. Josiah Emerole, the Director of the Intelligence and Public Enlightenment Department.
According to her, anybody guilty of employing such a child is liable to seven years imprisonment.
“The Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015, which set up NAPTIP, prohibits all forms of slavery and slavery-like activities,” she said.
The agency also implements the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015.
“Section 23 sub-section 1a of The Trafficking in Persons Prohibition Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015 (TIPPEA Act, 2015), prohibits the employment of a child below 12 years as a domestic worker.
“This offense attracts a jail sentence not exceeding seven years.
“This Section also prohibits the employment of a child to do any exploitative, injurious, or hazardous work to the child’s physical, social, and psychological development.
“This offense is without an option of fine. Sections 24 and 25 of the TIPPEA Act, 2015 also prohibit the trafficking of human beings as slaves and forbid slave dealings generally.
“This offence attracts a jail sentence of not less than seven years and a fine of not less than N2 million.”
She claimed that to clear up the country’s current misunderstanding, the regulations governing the employment of domestic employees, particularly those about the minimum age, needed to be harmonised.
She claims that by doing this, labour inspectors will become more aware of their obligation to ensure that domestic labour is free from exploitation and abuse.
According to Waziri-Azi, it would also help to ensure that recruitment complies with established laws and regulations and that offenders receive proper punishment.
“It is expedient that the whole of society and the whole of government come together to ensure that the issue of modern-day slavery is kicked out of our society.
“All hands must be on the deck as NAPTIP cannot fight this fight alone,” the director-general said.
She claims that NAPTIP will keep working with its sister organisations to eradicate the problem of contemporary slavery.
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, Dr. Ifeoma Anyawutaku, stated that the topic of the DaDayas was appropriate in her remarks.
Anyawutaku claimed that it would aid in tackling the rising violence and dehumanisation of domestic employees in society, which was made by the director of the information, communication, and technology (ICT) Department.
Additionally, Dr. Dimitri Sanga, Director of the UNESCO Regional Office for West-Sahel Africa, claimed that UNESCO was instrumental in bringing the history of slavery to light.
Ms. Nneka Okafor, Head, Social and Human Sciences Sector, UNESCO Regional Office Abuja, acted as the representative for Sanga.
He claimed that UNESCO encouraged and established safe forums for educators and students to conduct discussions about the newest forms of slavery.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared August 23 of each year as International Cultural Relations Day, according to Mrs. Memunat Idu-Lah, Director of International Cultural Relations in the Ministry of Information and Culture (UNESCO).
Idu-Lah remembered that an insurrection of African slaves on the Island of Saint Dominque began on the night of August 22 to August 23, 1791. (now known as Haiti).
“That revolt set forth events that significantly influenced the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
“The slave rebellion in that area weakened the colonial system, sparking off a revolution that led to abolishing slavery and giving the Island its independence,” she said.
(NAN)