The Government of Nigeria does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period; therefore Nigeria was upgraded to Tier 2. These efforts included supporting implementation of a 2017 action plan between Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF), a governmentsupported nongovernmental armed group, and an international organization to end its recruitment and use of child soldiers.
There were no verified cases of any Nigerian governmentsupported entity recruiting or using child soldiers during the reporting period. The government convicted significantly more traffickers than the previous reporting period and initiated prosecutions against seven government officials allegedly complicit in trafficking. At the state level, the Edo State Government passed a new anti-trafficking law and provided additional resources to combat trafficking, while Delta and Ondo states established anti-trafficking task forces.
However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. For the fifth consecutive year, the government did not convict any complicit government officials despite consistent reports of government officials committing a variety of trafficking offenses each year. The government did not investigate, prosecute, or hold accountable any military or CJTF members for exploiting IDPs in sex trafficking or past recruitment and use of child soldiers. The Nigerian military did not provide female and child trafficking victims allegedly associated with insurgencies trafficking victim protections. The government identified fewer trafficking victims and did not fully disburse the budget allocated to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
Adapted from TIP 2019 by the U.S. Department of State
