The Centre for Migration Studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (CMS-NAU), held its first International Conference with the theme, Nigeria and Migration Today: The Diverse Strategies of State and Non-State Actors, at the ASSU Secretariat Unizik, Awka Anambra State.
Speaking at the conference, the minister of State for Police Affairs, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, who was the keynote speaker, stated that the mass exodus of Medical personnel from Nigeria to abroad has risen to over 900, a development that has affected the doctor, patient ratio over five times worse than the World Health Organisation WHO recommendations.
“The continuous migration of Nigerians especially of young people and skilled population has a significant impact including loss of trained and skilled professionals. As the Nigerian Medical Association has expressed concerns, the doctor-patient ratio is over five times worse than the WHO recommendations as Nigeria has continued to lose hundreds of doctors annually to brain drain.
“Reports by the Development Research and Project Center (dRPC) show that in 2015, 233 Nigerian doctors moved to the UK, in 2016, the number increased to 279, in 2017 the figure was 475, in 2018, the figure rose to 852, in 2019 it jumped to 1,347, dropped to 833 due to Covid-19, in 2020 and rose again to 932 in 2021,” the minister said.
Presenting his welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Prof Charles Esimone stated that the essence of the conference is to expose the Nigerian youths to the real picture of what is obtainable in the process of going to another country urging participants to go a step further in encouraging them to think in ward before taking such a strong position in life.
On his part, Chief Ernest Ezeajughi, the Chief Of Staff to Governor Charles Soludo, noted that most young Nigerians wish to leave the country without any focus of what they are going to do abroad. He added that most of them are unskilled and are risking their lives just to make ends meet.
Ezeajughi also stated that the administration of Governor Charles Soludo is aimed at replicating those opportunities Nigerians are going abroad in search of, adding that at the end of the day, there shall be an enabling environment for any focused Nigerian youths to actualize her ambition without checking out of the country.
In her remarks, the Comptroller General of Immigration; Caroline Wura-ola Adepoju represented by the Comptroller Anambra State Command, Godsgift O. Nwoke noted that migration is a salient matter that cannot be overlooked as it determines most aspects of any nation’s economy, if not all.
“From national security to economic stability, healthcare and beyond; migration has a definite role to play in the overall prosperity of any nation thus, identifying the various strategies used by the state and non-state actors in achieving migration should be a major concern if Nigeria wants to tackle the menace of insecurity, irregular migration, smuggling of migrants, trafficking in persons, brain drain and more recently, the “jakpa” syndrome that has seen many Nigerians leaving their places of habitual residence in droves by any means imaginable,” she said.
Speaking earlier, the Director of the Centre for Migration Studies Professor Tracie Utoh-Ezeajughi noted that the Centre for Migration Studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University (CMS-NAU) was commissioned on the 28th of August, 2018 by the Honourable Federal Commissioner, National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCFRMI), Sadiya Umar Farouq.
“Since its establishment, the Centre has assumed a leading role in articulating and projecting the contribution of Nigerian Universities, academics, and researchers to the international migration discourse, through an interventionist, collaborative and integrated approach.”
She disclosed that the Centre runs academic Programmes leading to the award of M.Sc. and Ph.D. Degrees in Migration Studies and is equally engaged in research and the delivery of research outputs and products adding that the International Conference is part of the academic interventions in Migration management which CMS-NAU has been providing.
Professor Ezeajughi further disclosed that the Centre is involved in collaborations and partnerships at international and country levels of engagement, stating that the major partners of the Centre are, the Swiss Embassy, NCFRMI, GIZ, ILO, IOM, CSOnetMADE, and the University of Alberta, Canada.
She equally noted that the conference is a consolidation of the various activities, collaborations and partnerships that CMS-NAU has been engaging in, for the five years of its existence.
Virtually presenting his lead paper on Globalization Migration and Nation Building, the Director of Marquette University Lonergan Project, Dr Joseph Ogbonnaya stated that in Nigeria’s experience of migration,
“We were enslaved, colonized, our resources stolen, granted political independence, and our hopes were dashed first, by the civil war and secondly through Western education.
“As is clear to everyone, good governance is the panacea to nation-building and stemming the tide of brain drain as no one would like to remain in a toxic environment, one out to suffocate and destroy you,” he said.
“We want the best for Nigeria. This best can only come from us because nation-building is the job of the citizens of a country. Brain drain is key to the underdevelopment of a people.
He added that is important for the Nigerian government to put in place reforms that will stabilise and secure the country to make Nigerians be proud of their country and not risk their lives going through the desert paying evil gangs to cross them over other countries.
As part of their consolidation efforts, the centre for Migration Studies presented awards to Her Excellency, Sadiya Umar Farouq, the former Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development,
The Honourable Minister of State for Police Affairs, Her Excellency Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim, Mr Charles Nwanelo, Rev. Fr. Dr. Emeka Obiezu, Prof Joseph Eberendu Ahaneku, Professor Charles O. Esimone, Professor Ike Odime, Hon. Ernest Ezeajughi, Mrs. Helen Shok Jok, an Assistant Director with the Voice of Nigeria (VON), among others.
Dominica Nwabufo
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