US thumbs down Nigeria’s human trafficking control

The United States has rated Nigeria's human trafficking control unsatisfactory. The Department of State, in a report by Secretary of State Mrs. Hilary Clinton, downgraded the country from Tier 1 to Tier 2 in its efforts to combat modern-day slavery. The report praised the National Agency against Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP) but said government has not done enough. A statement released on Wednesday by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Abuja said: "Countries assessed as fully complying with the 'minimum standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking' set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1. “Countries assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards, but making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those minimum standards are classified as Tier 2. “Countries assessed as neither complying with the minimum standards nor making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance are classified as Tier 3." America urged the Federal Government to finance NAPTIP adequately. The statement reads: "On June 19, 2012 U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton released the Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report in a public event in Washington, D.C. "In the 2012 TIP Report, Nigeria was downgraded from Tier 1 to Tier 2 status because the Nigerian government does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.  While the National Agency for Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) is doing well, it cannot be done without increased support and resources from the government. “The U.S. continues to support the work of NAPTIP and Nigeria’s return to Tier 1 status through continued collaboration and joint training programmes. "The Nigerian government has been urged among other remedial measures to ensure the activities of NAPTIP are funded sufficiently, particularly for prosecuting trafficking offenders and providing adequate care for victims; increase investigations and prosecutions of labour trafficking offences, and convictions and punishments of labour trafficking offences; and impose adequate sentences on convicted trafficking offenders, including imprisonment when appropriate." The TIP Report, said the statement, is backed by the U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2,000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended.