The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) said it has convicted 516 persons since its inception in 2004.

Josiah Emeriole, NAPTIP Director of Public Enlightenment, gave the figure at a capacity building for media professionals in Asaba on Tuesday.

The training was organised in partnership with Action Against Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants in Nigeria (A-TIPSOM NIGERIA), and funded by the European Union (EU) to fight human trafficking.

Mr Emeriole said they were convicted for different offences of human trafficking within the 18 years of establishment of the agency.

He added that the agency has rescued and rehabilitated over 18,000 victims of human trafficking during the the period under review.

“Out of these rescued victims, about 13 of them have graduated from universities, while three of them are currently employed by NAPTIP,” he said.

Mr Emeriole said millions of victims are still trapped for various forms of trafficking across the globe, adding that NAPTIP would not relent in its fight against human trafficking.

The director revealed that all states in the country are now vulnerable to human trafficking, “contrary to the impression that only Edo State is vulnerable to human trafficking.

“It is a crime with a profit of more than 150 billion United States (U.S.) Dollars,” he added.

(NAN)