The appointment of Hajiya Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim as new Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), was received with high excitement, both within the agency and by extension the entire country, as the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration was a right step in the right direction, given her wealth of experience and exposure.

With this development, Hajiya Sulaiman-Ibrahim's appointment will herald a new phase of life, policies and programmes that will drive the cardinal objectives against crime of trafficking in persons both within and outside the country, especially at this critical period of health emergency of COVID-19 pandemic, in its second wave.

This is coming particularly at a time when trafficking had become a trade, vocation and a norm both within and outside the shores of Nigeria, geared towards perpetrators making fortunes out of the illicit trade in human beings of any form, regarded as archaic, colonial and outlawed transactions world over.

Despite strict government policies against the anti-human disposition, participants had indulged in various means and devise new ways to sustain the illegal trade. Nigerian government frowns at those involved in the trade, whether corporate bodies, groups or individuals, through sanctions clearly spelt out in its act.

But with the new Director-General at the helms of affairs, it is not going to be business as usual, given her exposure both at international, national and political fronts of the country.

She is determined to continue with good policies of the over one decade agency as well as hit the ground running, by introducing new policies that will be in tandem with the present realities and sophisticated disposition against modern human traffickers.

With her background both in the organised private conglomerates and stint in the public sector, the new director-general will deploy her wealth of experience in international sphere to tackle and combat headlong the dreaded incidence of human trafficking that had become the order of the day in our modern-day Nigeria.

She is strategically positioned to match her words with actions, so as to redeem and protect the image of the country within and outside the shores of Nigeria as well as attract more investors readily available for myriads of investments.

With a post-graduate qualification in management from the Webster University in London, United Kingdom, her background in sociology at graduate level will assist her in no small measure in driving the new NAPTIP into many achievements.

Sulaiman-Ibrahim has worked in many private organisations at the top echelon of highly recognised private entities where her contributions had sustained both foreign and indigenous companies.

A philanthropist, politician and community leader, Hajiya Imaan is one of the strong leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State, and Nigeria at large, as her contributions to the success of the party cannot be overemphasised.

She indefatigably worked to represent her Federal Constituency of Keffi/Kokona/Karu in Nasarawa State in the 2019 general election before the turn of events, that saw her conceding the elective position.

A frontline woman leader of high repute, she had represented the APC on different assignments both within and outside the country.

She is currently a co-founder of the Beehive Initiatives, a non-governmental organisation being used to reach out to Nigerians on social, economic and life-touching activities.

There is no doubt that her new assignment as the D-G of NAPTIP will transform the agency into another era of human capital development, emancipation and advancement.

•Abubakar Yusuf writes from Abuja and can be reached via yus.abubakar3@gmail.com

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