Jurisdiction of High Courts and Recent Trend of Case law relating to rate of Convictions Part 5 of the Act provides for jurisdiction of competent courts of law. The Federal High Court, the High Court of a State and the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory have jurisdiction to try offences and to hear and determine proceedings arising under the Act.1 Under section 36 of the Act, where any person is convicted of an offence, the Court in passing sentence shall, in addition to any punishment which the Court may impose in respect of the offence, order the forfeiture to the Victims of Trafficking Trust Fund of any property, asset or fund with accrued interest, article, substance, device, material or conveyance which has been used or facilitated the commission of the offence or the proceed of any unlawful activity under this Act. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (2) of this Section, the penalty imposed on a person convicted of an offence referred to in that subsection may be reduced in such manner as the Court deems fit where that person has, before any proceeding, made possible or facilitated the identification of other accused persons and their sponsors or who, after the commencement of the proceedings, has made possible or facilitated the arrest of such persons. In accordance with the above provisions 3 accused persons have recently been sentenced to prison terms for violating the provisions of the Act. In the case of AGF v. Zulai Garba and Aisha Abdullahi2, the accused persons who were charged under section 23 of (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act (TIPPEA) had on arraignment pleaded guilty to the charges provided against them, involving the trafficking of 24 girls between the ages of 8 and 13 years from Wudil Local Government Area of Kano State to Lagos for domestic work. Delivering Judgment in Kano on Wednesday December 2, 2015, the accused persons were sentenced to one year imprisonment each for engaging in human trafficking activities contrary to the Act.3 In the second case under the 2015 Act, AGF v. Emmanuel Eromosele4, the accused person was charged under section 18 for attempting to traffic two females aged 17 & 20 from Delta to Libya through Kano to work as prostitutes. The accused person pleaded guilty to the charge and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to two years imprisonment. According to table X below these 2 cases bring the total number of convictions secured by NAPTIP on human trafficking cases to 284 as at the end of December, 2015. Table XX below shows the summary of convictions from inception to December 2016. Ibid sections 36-37 FHC/KN/12/2015 3 Decided by Hon. Justice Fatu Riman. Source NAPTIP Press release dated 9 December, 2015/ www.naptip.gov.ng 4 FHC/ KN/12/2015 1 2 38