The Journalist International Forum for Migration (JIFORM), has urged the Federal Government to address the “push and pull factor”, fueling irregular migration and human trafficking in Nigeria.
The President of the Forum, Dr Ajibola Abayomi, made the call in a statement on Friday, in Abuja.
Abayomi said that it was necessary for the government to address irregular migration, by improving the enabling environment to provide jobs, security, education and other social amenities to the citizens.
JIFORM held its maiden National Summit on migration on Thursday, which ended with an appeal and varied recommendations against irregular migration.
Abayomi said that the summit would be an annual event, to encourage capacity building for the media and other stakeholders on migration matters.
The statement quoted Mr Wale Akodu, an Assistant Director from the Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, as saying that media should do more to dissuade the minds of Nigerian youths from the option of irregular migration.
The statement also quoted the Director-General, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) Prof. Fatima Waziri-Azi, that Nigerians should shun desperate attempts to relocate abroad.
Waziri-Azi was represented by Mrs Comfort Modupe Agboko, the Zonal Commander of the agency in Lagos.
She expressed the readiness of NAPTIP to work with JIFORM and other organisations, to stem the tide of human trafficking through exchange of quality information with other strategic means.
A lecturer, Professor Lai Oso, from the Lagos State University, while appraising migration trends and dynamics, recommended integrated communication process.
“This will be to tackle the migration menace; I am charging the media to report more positive stories about the nation.
“Irregular migration means several things in different parts of the country.
“In addressing the issues, we need an integrated communication process that accommodates multiple strategic and deliberate communications to reach different classes of Nigerians,” Oso said.
The Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, commended Nigerians in Diaspora for their contributions to the economy, but was quick to admonish Nigerians to be of conduct abroad.
Dabiri-Erewa advised every Nigerian willing to travel abroad, to endeavour to get the right documentation and be of good behaviour.
This, she said was to save the Federal Government from spending huge funds on unnecessary deportations.
Several other agencies, ranging from the Nigerian-German Center for Jobs, Nigeria Police Force, and Reintegration (Giz), Network Against Child Trafficking, Abuse and Labour (NACTAL), the Nigeria Police Force Academy, and others, made inputs during the summit.