…bemoans inter-agency rivalry
By Isaac Aimurie and Godspower Eguasa
The Edo State Governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, has said that skill-based migration will check human trafficking and illegal migration.
Obaseki said this on Monday in Government House, Benin City, when the Assistant Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Angela Esekhaigbe, led a delegation of NIS officials on a courtesy visit to the Governor.
Welcoming the NIS team, Obaseki said that the Federal and State governments, development partners and other stakeholders must work together to create economic opportunities for citizens to migrate legally, as this will check irregular migration.
According to him, “There is demand for labour particularly in Europe, and if we create opportunities for regular migration, it will check irregular migration.”
He further said his government has been working with development partners to provide economic opportunities for regular migration “so that we can compete with the traffickers.”
Obaseki however, decried the rivalry that exists among government agencies which has affected the relationship between the State government and its development partners.
Speaking on the efforts the State government has made in receiving, training and integrating returnees into society, the Governor said his administration realized early enough the seriousness of illegal migration and set up structures such as a task force and the relevant law.
“For us, we realized very early in Edo that this is a very complex problem and it’s very deep-rooted and we took a series of steps. Edo was the epicentre of irregular migration and human trafficking.
“About six years ago when we came into office and from our experience, it’s not an issue that seems to always be in the fore of policy. Most Governments in this country do not understand and realize the danger and the catastrophe which this poses and oftentimes, our response is; oh, what’s driving them from home?
“But the truth is that as a country, we have failed the young people of this country such that many of them just feel hopeless, and they just feel that anywhere else but home will be better. Don’t forget we are in the technology age, there is the internet revolution, they have access to information globally, they feel and they are told that life is much better out there. So for very aspirational young people like us in Edo, they will do anything to go and seek a better life,” he said.
The Governor maintained that “if we are going to deal with this issue of irregular migration, there has to be very close collaboration between Federal Agencies, those who are responsible for these persons and the communities they are coming from” adding that data gathering is critical in the fight against human trafficking and irregular migration.
Earlier, leader of the delegation, and Assistant Comptroller General in Charge of Migration Directorate, Nigeria Immigration Service Headquarters, Abuja, Angela Esekhaigbe, informed the Governor of the official flag-off of the nationwide sensitization program on the smuggling of migrants.
She explained that the focus of the sensitization campaign is “on the smuggling networks as it constitutes threats to national security, national economy, socio-political sanity and well-being of the country, and to educate the general public on the dangers of the scourge.”
