Stephen Angbulu
Nigeria has been classified as a Tier 2 country in the 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report by the U.S. Department of State for the 13th year.
Countries ranked Tier 2 are those whose governments “do not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection. Act’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to comply with those standards.”
Nigeria last attained Tier 1 status in 2011 and has not done so since. Its ranking also fluctuated between Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 2 (Watch List) based on annual reports published for the past 23 years.
The annual TiPR categorises countries into four tiers as mandated by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000.
The TIER 1—countries are those whose governments meet the TVPA’s minimum standards and TIER 2—countries, are those whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to meet those standards.
Others are TIER 2 Watch List—countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to meet those standards but are seeing a “significant increase” in the numbers of victims of severe forms of trafficking and TIER 3—countries, those whose governments do not fully meet the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.
In 2009, 2010 and 2011, Nigeria maintained Tier 1 status in the global counter-human trafficking standing.
However, regaining this status has proven elusive for over a decade. Instead, it slipped to the Tier 2 Watch List in 2017, 2018, and 2020, respectively, with the same status held in 2004 and 2008.
So far, Nigeria has been ranked a Tier 2 country for a cumulative period of 13 years; 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The 2024 report showed that despite the federal and state authorities investigating 409 cases, prosecuting 49 suspects and convicting 36 traffickers in the past year alone, a notable gap remains in the training of judges, which hinders the prosecution process due to a lack of judicial awareness and understanding of anti-trafficking legislation.
The report also blamed corruption and impunity within the judiciary and law enforcement agencies as factors that continue to impede progress.
It highlighted that the government has not investigated or prosecuted members of the Civilian Joint Task Force for past forced recruitment or use of child soldiers.
The Executive Director of the Women Trafficking and Child Labour Eradication Foundation, Imaobong Ladipo-Sanusi in a phone interview with Sunday PUNCH, advocated more inter-agency collaboration as the easiest way to curb Trafficking in Persons and improve Nigeria’s global standing.