Donli’s Naptip: Confronting the scourge against humanity

In July 2003 under the government of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the fight against modern broad-day slavery got a boost when it created the National Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in persons and other related offences Act, otherwise called NAPTIP.

The creation of the agency was a culmination of years of advocacy by non-governmental organizations such as WOTCLEF, FIDA and others leading to the Act establishing the Agency through a private sponsored bill.

The mandate of the multidisciplinary agency is to protect the vulnerable against sexual enslavement, forced labour, forced hawking, trafficking of children, harvesting of human parts and other exploitative tendencies against human dignity.

In the broad spectrum, domestication of the law creating the agency was a direct response of Nigeria’s international obligation to addressing the menace of trafficking especially as a measure to complement the United Nations Transnational Organized Crime Convention (UNTOC) which Nigeria had earlier become a signatory to the protocol in 2000.

In spite of the steam that heralded the setting up of the organization, the expectations of Nigerians plummeted in recent times until the current Director-General of the Agency, Mrs. Julie Okah Donli took over last year.

On assumption of office, the new DG could visibly see on the faces of staffers, wearing forlorn faces as activities at the office were at its lowest ebb.

The morale of workers was nothing to sheer as motivation seemed to have no place in the system. Having gone through reports in the files, the new DG,  Julie Okah-Donli did not betray her emotions and sense of equanimity, but was full of hope in reassuring the management and staff that the challenges were not insurmountable.

She swung into action by holding several management and departmental meetings to get first hand reports to enable her appreciate the enormity of managing the challenges that lie ahead.

Those who have watched her activities in the country with keen interest have no doubt, she has something in the kit to effect positive change, given her training, background and transformational leadership skills.

A law graduate of the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University with over twenty years standing at the Bar, fully baptized with professional qualifications as chartered secretary and membership and fellow of several professional bodies fetted on her red cap of an amazon.

Having worked as private legal practitioner with wide range of experience in corporate practice, former Head of UBA Trustees, Security and Exchange Commission and for about five years she held away as Executive Assistant to former governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State.

 Until her appointment as Director General of NAPTIP, she floated non-profit organization known as the Julie Donli kidney foundation whose mission was solely humanitarian service by lending hands to touch the lives of victims of kidney problem who are in need.

Coming from this humanitarian background, coupled with her administrative exposure, her appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari was a home coming and endorsement of the article of faith in taking NAPTIP to the next level.

In spite of her cosmopolitan background as daughter of a very Senior Naval Officer who had passed on years ago; many people may not be aware that back to her home state, Bayelsa, she is known as a grassroots political mobiliser and the rallying point of women in Bayelsa Politics.

As an ordent believer in hard work, one value orientation which has become her trademark is the conviction that “ a woman’s brain is her only assert that can take her to the top”.

That has not only endeared her to millions of people but is also the driving force in taking her to where she is today without cutting corners.

It was same spirit which distinguished her when she won the Faculty of Law Dean’s award in her undergraduate days at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Just same way she has breathed life into NAPTIP, Mrs. Julie Okah-Donli has no dull moment as she smiles with a heart full of gold at everyone that encounters her.

In any leadership position she finds herself, she knows her onion as she clearly delineates between pleasure and work without mixing them.

With a multidisciplinary exposure, she quickly identified poor remuneration and motivation as a key problem militating against the optimal performance of the agency.

She took up the case of poor remuneration with the presidency with a memo to that effect. Currently the issue is receiving attention of the presidency and when it eventually materializes, staff of the agency like its other counter parts will be given special salary scale.

This is a testimony of her commitment to motivation of both administrative and operational staff.

In same vein, she believes that no organistion will achieve its optimal objective without enforcing discipline among its workforce. Enforcing discipline therefore became a key factor in her work ethics and the much vaunted desire to reposition the Agency.

To this end, the new DG embarked on an in-house cleansing exercise by beaming its torchlight on staffers who indulge in acts of compromising their duties, while those who are  hand working are rewarded accordingly.

Not long ago, it came like a thunderbolt when six staff of NAPTIP were relieved of their appointments. The charges against them ranged from coordinating sharp practice in what they call professional sureties for suspects for fees to secure their release while awaiting trial; leaking intelligence reports about operation of the agency, thereby exposing officers of the agency to danger.

Other offence are taking advantage of victims of trafficking by making love advances to them as a condition to render one service or the other to free them and several sundry issues of compromise which are inimical to the corporate image of the agency.

This is in sheer fulfillment of the promise made by the Director General to reposition the agency along the line of transparency and effective service delivery.

The bold initiatives taken so far have not only earned global confidence in the organization but have also enhanced Nigeria’s Global Alliance in the fight against the scourse of human trafficking.

The recent visit to the Head quarters of NAPTIP in Abuja by the Chief of Mission and his team of the international organization for Migration led by Frantz Celestin is a direct result of the new Global confidence in the Julie Okah. Donli led agency.

The lOM visit was essentially to foster stronger partnership over the task of curbing irregular migration and human trafficking in Nigeria and the West african sub-region.

The International Organization for Migration, lOM, which had played a pivotal role in repatriating Nigeria migrants in Libya and in other parts of the world promised its continued support for NAPTIP priority programmes in combating human trafficking and irregular migration.

The new leadership of NAPTIP led by Dame Julie Okah Douli places high premium on training and retraining of officers of the agency.

Officers are not only exposed to contemporary strategies in combating human trafficking, but are also made to undergo leadership trainings.

Only in September, 2018, NAPTIP got the partnership of the prestigious 2018 Mandela Watchington Fellows (MWF) and that of the US Embassy to train forty staff of the agency on a Two-Day Leadership training course tagged, “Rethinking public service in Nigeria through Servant Leadership.”

The workshop which was applauded as highly engaging, interactive and participatory provided a platform for deep reflection on rethinking the public leadership in Nigeria, to imbibe the culture of servant leadership and not positional attitude.

Only few months back, the 6th edition of Interpol Global Conference on Human Trafficking and Migrant smuggling took place in Abuja where critical issues on the menace of human trafficking were brought to fore.

Rising to the occasion, Nigeria’s anti human trafficking czar, Dame Okah-Donli assured the august gathering of taking the campaign to the rural areas especially the most endemic areas of Edo, Delta and other places.

In prompt fulfillment of this promise, the Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, Mrs. Julie Okah-Donli for the first time in the history of the agency personally launched an integrated advocacy by temporarily relocating to the rural communities and other soft targets to sensitize them about the damage of the illicit business.

The visit took the DG and he sensitization team to market places at Oghara, Warri, Ajagbodudu, Mosoagar and koko where the market women gave them warm welcome to the admiration of NAPTIP team.

One of the market women, Mrs. Onome Omoghene could not hold back the joy of NAPTIP presence as she said; “I did not expect to see Government office holders like her (The DG NAPTIP) in this kind of place”.

She did not even mind the dirt and smelling rubbish in the market. This women is very unique and is doing her work well”.

The visit enlisted the support of critical stakeholders such as the Chief Judge of Edo State, Honorable Justice Esohe Ikpomwosa and the Olu of Warri, His Royal Majesty Ogiame Ikenwoli who threw his Royal weight behind the renewed offensive against human trafficking.

Besides improving its international alliance in tacking human trafficking, NAPTIP under the new vision of Dame Julie Okah-Donli introduced the Rapid Response Squad otherwise called Whistle Blowing Policy to enhance its intelligence gathering modus operandi in tracking down suspects and victims.

Happily, it has yielded positive results, as NAPTIP under the short period Dame Julie Okah-Donli mounted the saddle as Director-General barely over a year ago has recorded fifty five convictions of persons involved human trafficking which is the highest number of convictions secured within the short period she took over as DG.

Today, the shinning testimony of the Julie Okah-Douli led NAPTIP is like an open book which anybody can open and read that she has changed the narrative of the agency from that of doldrum to an epic centre of activities, and one of the shining spots of the Muhammadu Buhari administration in restoring the dignity of man.

The fight against human trafficking is not a tea party. It requires a lot of financial muscle and the political will to confront the cartel involved in the illicit trade.

This is where the Federal government has to demonstrate its full commitment by shoring up the budget of the agency, so that it will have the necessary fund and strength to confront the monster staring at our national faces.

On the part of state governments, they should not only as a matter of imperative complement the activities of NAPTIP by taking the sensitization campaign to the rural areas, but should also put measures in place to rehabilitate victims of human trafficking.

It is not also out of place to suggest the need to create jobs, empowerment programmes and free education for the vulnerable in the rural areas, who constitute the bulk of victims because of the so called search for greener pastures.

The victims of human trafficking falls within the productive brackets of the economy. They can be galvanized and given a new sense of direction through empowerment programmes for the good of our national economy. Endemic poverty and mis-governance occasioned by lack of priority are some of the factors responsible for the illegal migration.

The fight against human trafficking and irregular migration is a huge question mark on our sense of humanity and dignity of man. It deserves a collective resolve in confronting it headlong.

While commending the Director-General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli and selfless service to humanity, she should not rest on her oars as many Nigerians are watching the good job she is doing to restore the sense of dignity in man. Certainly, in the fullness of time, there will be a place for her in history.