“A
woman’s brain is her only asset that can take her to the top”
“Be
proud to be an African Woman, walk with your head held up and remember that
with determination, hardwork, focus and
passion you can achieve your goal.”
These are the exact
words in the voice of indefatigable Julie Okah-Donli, the Director General (DG)
of National Agency For The Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons(NAPTIP).
Her personae and
shrewdness in this male dominated world brings to mind Dr Dora Akunyili of
blessed memory who transformed NAFDAC and made it an effective and efficient
agency to manage, control and regulate food and drug related activities in
Nigeria. Nigerians and history will
never diminish the works and records of Dr Akunyili that set the stage and
standard for NAFDAC today.
Barrister Julie
Okah-Donli took over the reigns of leadership of NAPTIP in 2017 at the peak of
human trafficking activities in Nigeria and Africa in general. Nigerians were
leaving the country enmasse migrating to Europe through land, desert and ocean
via Libya seeking for greener pastures in the face of declining opportunities
for youths to engage to ancour their future.
The traffickers were
milking the situation by exploiting these vulnerable Nigerians in many ways.
Many were dehumanized in the process while many who survived the scorching
desert eventually died on the journey across the Mediterrenean Sea attempting to cross over
to Europe in the quest for a better future.
The exploitation
attracted global attention when international Media like CNN and BBC broke the
story after they conducted investigations that exposed slavery going on in
Libya. Many people mostly Nigerians were sold like cows to the highest bidder
and forced to work for their masters even in this 21st century, many
decades after slavery was abolished around the world.
Many young women were
sexually abused while the barbaric dehumanization that trended on social media
for months were just too gory and horrific for me to watch.
She was never cowed
rather she embraced the challenge head on and rolled her sleeves to work to
fight the rising menace in our society. She was ready to confront the
perpetrators fearlessly putting her own life in danger all in the quest to save
another person’s life. That is leadership!
Hitherto before her,
Nigerians heard little or nothing pertaining to ending trafficking and bringing
traffickers to face justice. Traffickers had a field day, recruiting young
Nigerians everyday and trading on them without restriction.
Today the narrative is
changing. Many traffickers are facing the music today through the court of law.
Many of the highly connected people who profit on this trade are going into
hiding today because they know that the new sheriff in town will find them and
arraign them to bring justice to the families they have caused so much pain.
Just recently, she raised
alarm over the allegations of sex for food and general abuse of children and
women going on in IDP camps, insisting that the perpetrators must be brought to
book to serve as deterrent to other people that would want to take the same
route. She insisted that the crime must not be swept under the carpet
irrespective of the status of the offenders if we must make these IDP camps
safe for young girls and other vulnerable women.
According to her, as a
strategy to end this abuse in camps, her agency, security agencies and civil
organisations working in the camps have strengthened partnership to nip the
situation in the bud and make the camps safe for women and girls.
Recently, the agency
under the leadership of the amazon launched Operation Block to checkmate the
activities of traffickers who would want to traffic young Nigerians to Europe
in the guise of taking them to Russia to watch the world Cup only to eventually
divert their destinations for their self serving purposes.
The gains of the
Operation Block are already being reaped as some Nigerians were rescued
recently at Abuja airport while being trafficked to Europe under the guise of
going to Russia for World Cup. Infact, according to the story, a police man who
aided and abetted the crime was arrested by the agency.
This is unprecedented
in the history of the agency, and its an indication that the DG is committed to
bringing anyone who participates in human trafficking to books regardless of
the person’s status in the society.
The agency has never
had it that good before by showing commitment and resilience in rescuing and
saving many Nigerian Youths from traffickers who make millions in this business
daily.
She has also stepped up
awareness campaign to educate many people about how these traffickers operate
so as to reduce the number of people who fall into their traps to become
victims in the future.
Madam DG remains one of
the best performers under this administration who are headlining the change mantra
in a positive way that signals progress especially in her agency.
It’s obvious that she
will continue to get the recognition she deserves that will propel her to
greater responsibilities in the future for our nation Nigeria.
Long Live Dame Julie Okah-Donli!
Long Live NAPTIP!
Long Live Federal
republic of Nigeria!
FREEDON TO OUR
GENERATION!
Anayo Ekeanya (MBA,
BSc, DAIT) writes from Abuja
Twitter:
@getmotivatedng
Facebook: Nigerian
Youths, GetMotivated Naija
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