The Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) and National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and other related matters (NAPTIP) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to mainstream Trafficking in Persons (TIP) issues into the Basic and Senior Secondary curricula in Nigeria.
The agreement is Sequel to an earlier visit by NAPTIP to NERDC at the NERDC Headquarters in Sheda on Wednesday, 2nd April, 2014 where a joint NERDC/NAPTIP technical committee was set up to work out modalities for the partnership.
Speaking at the signing of the MoU held at NAPTIP headquarters in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of NERDC, Prof. Godswill Obioma stated that the partnership is to infuse issue and elements of Trafficking in Persons (TIP) into the Basic and Secondary school curricula and to carry out research on TIP issue.
According to him, “this is aimed at reducing the incidence of human trafficking and to sensitize and create awareness on the ills of human trafficking in the society”.
Prof. Obioma highlighted the Memorandum of Understanding to include:
NAPTIP and NERDC to develop a stand-alone curriculum on Trafficking in Persons (TIP); the stand-alone curriculum on Trafficking in Persons is to be infused into Basic and Senior Secondary Education curricula through relevant carrier subjects; areas of research on TIP to be identified and joint research on these areas to be jointly carried out; teachers’ guides for the curriculum on TIP to be developed and lastly, funds for the projects to be provided by NAPTIP.
Also speaking, the Executive Secretary, NAPTIP, Mrs. Beatrice Jedy-Agba noted that the agency is seeking to chart a new path in deepening advocacy using education as a key tool in combating human trafficking.
According to her, “the mainstreaming move is one of the strategic plans of the agency aimed at ensuring that the consciousness of Nigerians especially the young people are properly raised on the menace of human trafficking in the country”.
