The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has partnered with FCT Universal Basic Education Board (FCT-UBEB), on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) cases.
The partnership was signed at the opening session of a two-day capacity building workshop for FCT public junior secondary school counsellors, on Wednesday and also involved information on human trafficking cases.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Dr Fatima Waziri-Azi, who declared the workshop open, said that counsellors and teachers play crucial roles in nurturing children to maturity.
Waziri-Azi said that violence against persons covers every aspect of society, hence teachers and counsellors must be vigilant.
He said that there are laws guiding all forms of violence in the country.
He, however, expressed concern that most people, including teachers and counsellors, were not conversant with them, which necessitated the training.
“You have to listen to children when they complain of a violation of their rights.
“As counsellors, I want to encourage us to play our role to reduce violence in society.
“You have to take your job seriously and be sensitive to the complaint of the children,” Waziri-Azi said.
The NAPTIP boss gave assurance that the agency would treat all reported cases of SGBV and trafficking by teachers and counsellors with great confidentiality.
He called on the participants to strive to be conversant with the provisions of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act, 2015.
Also, the Director of Training and Manpower Development, NAPTIP, Mr Arinze Orakwe, urged the participants to pay close attention to the training for more impact.
Orakwe said that counsellors and teachers occupy a critical position in intelligent sharing, data gathering and others toward child protection.
He said that NAPTIP was doing its best to enforce the law against trafficking in person and SGBV.
According to him, counsellors and teachers are needed to complement the efforts of the agency to win the fight against the menace.
Orakwe said that the participants were needed to help spread the message against the crimes to FCT schools.
The Director of Junior Secondary Schools, FCT UBEB, Hajia Rahmatu Nusa, thanked NAPTIP for the training, saying that the board was happy with the initiative.
Nusa said the training came at a time there was an increase in rape cases in the FCT, where a lot of civil servants live.
“A lot of housemaids work with these civil servants and they witness cases of SGBV and other forms of violence from their paymasters,” she said.
Nusa, therefore, pledged the support of the board and public schools in the FCT to NAPTIP activities.
