PRESS RELEASE

THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY HAS COMMENCE INTERNAL RESTRUCTURING OF THE AGENCY

The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the National Agency for The Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters NAPTIP, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba, has commenced the internal restructuring of the agency in line with her new vision as captured in her opening statement to staff upon resumption.

Further to this, the Executive Secretary has set in motion the process for the review of the NAPTIP Act; this is with a view to removing ambiguities in the act to make it more elegant for practitioners and judicial officers. This will also prepare the law for the inclusion of some of the provision in the proposed domestication of smuggling of migrant protocol.

The Naptip boss had earlier told staff that her mission is to re-energize and reposition NAPTIP to meet its mandate as a more professional law enforcement agency with high standards.

According to the Executive Secretary, the ongoing reorganization in the agency, as in line with extant practice in public service justifies the de-merger of the erstwhile department of administration and finance in two separate departments of finance and accounts and the department of Administration.

The repositioning of the agency has also witnessed the establishment of a training department to improve the human resource capacity, targeting special competences for the task ahead. She said the department will develop a unique training curriculum with robust mechanism to anticipate challenges and cater for emerging trends in Trafficking in Persons.

In addition to these changes, an intelligence and international cooperation unit has also been created under the office of the Executive Secretary.  This according to her is to enable the agency develop capacity and generate intelligence based investigation that will proactively facilitate the prosecution department.

Mrs. Jedy-Agba decried the tardiness in response to enquiries from partners.  According to her, a simple diagnostic which she conducted, has shown glaring gaps in relationship building, shared vision and obvious disconnect in arriving at a mutual framework for cooperation between Naptip and its partners.

These gaps have led to duplication of assistance and disharmony in donor capacity.  Consequently, the aim is to develop a framework for shared vision and commitment on Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and evolve a strategic and sustainable donor coordination system that disallow duplication of efforts, plug wastages and ensure effective monitoring.