HUMAN TRAFFICKING: NEW GUIDELINES ARE ISSUED BY NAPTIP TO NIGERIANS HIRING HOUSEKEEPERS

Babatunji Wusu –

Nigerians have been cautioned by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) not to hire young housemaids.

Hassan Tahir, the agency’s Director of Legal and Prosecution, emphasized that engaging in such a conduct is illegal during a news conference in Abuja on Monday.

He gave the counsel in response to employers of domestic workers who were having problems with their staff members, which occasionally resulted in injury.

He said that hiring a minor to work as a domestic servant is illegal and considered a crime under Section 23 of the Trafficking in Persons Act, TIP.

Tahir quoted Section 23 of the TIP Act as saying, “Any person who willfully employs, requests, recruits, transports, harbours, receives or hires out a child as a domestic worker commits an offence and is liable to conviction of imprisonment for a minimum term of 6 months, and not exceeding 7 years.”

However, the director advised that those interested in employing a house help must ensure fair treatment, including providing shared accommodations and schooling with the master’s children.

Tahir said, “The domestic worker must attend the same school with your children, eat the same food with your children, wear the same cloth with your children, he or she must be treated equally with your children.

“There could be a situation whereby you employ a child and at the same time inflict injury on him or her, if you want to violate their right, please don’t do that, and if certainly you do, NAPTIP will do the needful.“