Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, is leading Nigerian delegation to Italy to discuss fight against human trafficking following the death of 26 Nigerian women in the Mediterranean Sea while crossing from Libya to Europe.
The women were given a mass burial in the Italian city of Salerno on Friday.
Dogara’s media aide, Turaki Adamu Hassan, said in a statement on Sunday that the Italian government extended the invitation to the Speaker to attend an international conference on “Women empowerment and the fight against trafficking in persons. The Partnership between Nigeria and Italy” which will take place in Rome.
This is sequel to the official visit of the President of Italian Chamber of Deputies, Laura Boldrini, to the Speaker in May 2017.
Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, and Director General of National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Julie Okah-Donli, among others are also in the delegation.
The Italian Parliament, the statement added, is seeking partnership with Nigeria to stem human trafficking especially the increasing number of Nigerian citizens that enter Italy every year.
During her visit to Dogara in May, Ms Boldrini had lamented that in 2016 alone, 37,000 Nigerians arrived in Italy through the Mediterranean Sea.
The conference will seek ways of empowering Nigerian women to stop the illegal and dangerous migration of Nigerians to Europe
