United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has decried increasing links between trafficking and terrorism.

Its Representative in Nigeria, Cristina Albertin, made this known at the end of a four-week training of counsellors and social workers in Benue State.

The training, which was sponsored by the Swiss Government, focused on basic counselling and social work skills in the management of trafficked persons.

Albertin said all hands must be on deck to prevent and suppress human trafficking, especially in Nigeria, as it was a dangerous trend.

The Representative also raised concern on the fact that human trafficking was a re-emergence of slave trade, which was abolished several years ago.

According to her, other than its link with terrorism, poverty and other humanitarian crises, human trafficking is an atrocious human rights violation that needs to be treated with the seriousness it deserves.

She called on the Nigerian Government to intensify efforts to effectively tackle the menace.

She called for collaboration among investigators, prosecutors and judges for common understanding on the need for speedy justice delivery.

Acting Director General of National Agency for the prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, Abdulrazak Dangiri, said recent increase in cases of human trafficking in Nigeria was a thing of concern.

He, however, gave assurance that the agency was doing everything within its mandate to find lasting solutions to the problem.