Assessing the Contribution of NAPTIP’s Interventions to Public Awareness of Human Trafficking in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Human trafficking remains a major social and human rights challenge in Nigeria despite sustained government efforts to combat the crime through prevention, protection, and prosecution initiatives. This study assessed the contribution of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP)'s interventions to public awareness of human trafficking in Abuja, Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Diffusion of Innovations Theory and adopted a descriptive survey research design. The study population comprised 1,406,776 registered voters in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, from which the researchers selected a sample of 384 respondents using the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) sample size determination table. The researchers retrieved and analysed 379 valid questionnaires using frequencies, percentages, and mean scores. The findings showed that NAPTIP's interventions have positively contributed to increasing public awareness of human trafficking, with a grand mean of 3.26, indicating respondents' agreement that the agency's campaigns have enhanced public knowledge. Specifically, respondents agreed that NAPTIP's awareness campaigns increased their knowledge of human trafficking (Mean = 3.41), exposed them to anti-trafficking messages through various communication channels (Mean = 3.39), and improved awareness through school and community sensitisation programmes (Mean = 3.34). The study concludes that although NAPTIP's interventions have improved public awareness of human trafficking in Abuja, gaps remain in the accessibility of awareness campaigns and knowledge of reporting channels among some segments of the population. The study recommends that NAPTIP expand awareness campaigns to underserved communities, strengthen the use of digital and local-language communication platforms, and receive increased government support to sustain and periodically evaluate its public enlightenment programmes for greater effectiveness.