- IOM Warns of Irregular Migration Dangers
The International Organisation for Migration says there is a need for stakeholders including the media, parents, communities as well as the government to create more awareness for the dangers of irregular migration.
The United Nations agency stated that migration remained part of human nature but should be done in the right way.
“It is all about managing migration so that the host country as well as the country of origination will benefit from the process. The IOM is not against migration but advocates that it should be done in an orderly manner,” the IOM Nigeria’s Public Information Officer, Jorge Galindo, said at a sensitisation workshop for journalists in Benin City, Edo State.
Galindo noted that effective reporting and coverage of migration issues by journalists would help to create the much needed awareness.
According to him, since 2001, the IOM has assisted over 15,000 stranded Nigerian migrants return home safely from more than 20 countries across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa through its Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration Programme.
He said between April 2017 and June 2018, the IOM had facilitated the return of about 9,000 stranded people, adding that the target was 3,000 but the number tripled and was still growing.
“The AVRR supports a variety of migrants who wish to return home, including those who travelled for economic reasons, unaccompanied children and survivors of trafficking. The IOM interviews them and assists with travel logistics and flights. Many receive protection support as well. Once in Nigeria, the most vulnerable are offered additional support through in-kind reintegration assistance to start business, study and pay medical fees, among others,” he said.
He stated that the European Union Trust Fund would cover the reintegration of 3,800 Nigerian returnees over the next three years, adding that the IOM would continue to work with the federal and state governments and other international partners to ensure that returnees were adequately supported to get their lives back on track.
The Communications Assistant, IOM Nigeria, Lagos, Adaora Okoli, said most of the voluntary returnees in the last one year were those stranded in transit/destination countries including Libya, Niger and Mali.
According to her, most of the irregular migrants come from Edo, Delta, Ogun, Imo and Oyo states.
