By Joan Nwagwu
The Federal Government said it was making strident efforts to curtail irregular migration by Nigerians through policies and programmes that would boost the economy and create employment of the country.
Sen.Abubakar Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning said this at an Anti-Migration Summit organised by a non governmental organisation, the Blacks Ancestral Native Communities (BANC) on Thursday in Abuja.
Bagudu said that irregular migration had a lot of unintended negative outcomes such as human trafficking and drug peddling were some of the ills that irregular migration had put the youths into.
According to Bagudu, the federal government realises the urgent need to advance Nigerian economy to an enviable level where it can support her leadership status as the pride of Africa.
“A two trillion dollar economy will support the correction of all of what we are here talking about such as the irregular migration or the Japa syndrome in Nigeria.
” Nigeria is not seeking to end migration by her citizens but to ensure that people only migrate out of choice not by compulsion.
“The present administration is making strident efforts to curtail irregular migration by Nigerians through policies and programmes that will boost our economy and create employment,”he said.
He noted that most of the policy measures being pursued by the government were meant to support the country’s aspiration to attain higher economic goals.
He however advised those seeking to migrate to ensure proper documentation and careful choices of the nature jobs they are going to do in destination countries.
Bagudu added that the federal government is presently empowering Nigerian youths through many youth-friendly policies and programmes.
Prof. Plo Lumumba, Kenyan Lawyer and Activist, while delivering the keynote address, regretted that about 60 years after the independence of most African countries from colonialism, they were yet to make things right.
Lumumba while proferrig solutions to irregular migration, said there was need for a change in mindset, sanitisation of African politics, create opportunities in agriculture, clear policy guidelines, research and development.
“It all comes from the mind. We must change our mindset, when we change our mindsets then we begin to do the right things.
“One of the problems of Africans is the quality of politics that we have let’s not shy away from it. Each African country is running from disaster to disaster on a daily basis. Even when politicians steal they don’t keep it in their own country.
“In order to solve this problem the first thing to do is to sanitise our politics, let us not run away from it,”he said
Earlier, Chairman BANC Foundation, Ambassador. Sani Bako noted that haven known the factors driving irregular migration, Nigeria and Africa at large were not too far away from the solutions.
“The causes of the phenomenon of irregular migration vary from country to country, but one common factor that prevails in all countries is the wanton, inordinate, and senselessness corruption that has permeated the entire continent.
Also, Dr Chibuzor Onyema, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of BANC, said that in order to make irregular migration less attractive, the government must first address the root causes that push people to leave their home countries in such desperate conditions.
“These causes include poverty, unemployment, lack of access to quality _ education, political instability, and insecurity.
“Governments and leaders at all levels must prioritize creating an environment where young people can prosper and build fulfilling lives within their own countries, ” he said.