Professional Evaluation of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) Performance

NAPTIP has served as Nigeria's primary anti-human trafficking enforcement and victim support agency since 2003, and professional evaluation of its performance against its legislative mandate and international anti-trafficking standards provides essential input for institutional reform. This study professionally evaluated NAPTIP's performance across prosecution, prevention, protection, and partnership dimensions for the period 2019 to 2023. A programme evaluation methodology was employed, combining documentary analysis of NAPTIP annual reports, court prosecution records, and shelter operations data, with structured interviews with 12 NAPTIP officials at national and zonal levels, 8 partner NGOs, and 6 magistrate judges handling trafficking cases. The four Ps framework (prosecution, prevention, protection, partnership) was used as the evaluation structure. Results showed prosecution rates improving but conviction rates averaging only 24.7 percent of arraigned cases over the period. Prevention programme reach covered an estimated 3.8 percent of the target at-risk population annually. Protection shelter capacity was at 67 percent of the minimum UNHCR victim shelter standards. International partnership activities (Interpol, UN.GIFT, IOM) were strongest of the four dimensions. Budget allocations covered fewer than 40 percent of operational requirements. The study concludes that NAPTIP's mandate execution is severely resource-constrained and recommends a tripling of annual budget allocation, victim-survivor inclusion in programme design, and mandatory inter-agency referral protocols with NDLEA, NPF, and NIS.

Keywords: NAPTIP, human trafficking, programme evaluation, Nigeria, anti-trafficking