As the 2023 International Migrants Day is commemorated, the Secretary-General, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria, CSN, Rev. Fr. Zachariah Samjumi, says Migrants are powerful drivers for the nation’s development.
Fr Samjumi stated this in a Forum on Migration/Countering Trafficking in Persons Forum as Nigeria’s part of continuous efforts to protect the rights of Migrants.
The Forum was organised by the Migrants and Refugee Unit Department of Church& Society, Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria in Collaboration with the Justice, Development and Peace Commission, JDPC, Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital with support from USAID and Palladium.
He noted that considering the skills and knowledge Migrants have wherever they settle either as workers, entrepreneurs, farmers, or mere resident workers, they contribute to the development of those areas.
Fielding questions from Journalists, Fr Samjumi called on the Nigerian government and community leaders to facilitate the well-being and the rights of Migrants. In his words
“We believe that we should do everything possible to facilitate the well-being and the rights of migrants. First of all, it is by accepting them into the community that, do not only look at the way infrastructure and other things will be stretched, it is an opportunity to grow and develop more. So if states and local governments will see to this, they will create the enabling environment to harvest the knowledge that comes from these people and their skills these people offer,” his words.
In his goodwill message, the Chief Intelligence Officer, of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, Malachy Ekete, spoke on
NAPTIP’s resolve in the fight against Trafficking in Persons.
Mr Ekete also noted that the Agency has developed policies to protect the economic Migrants from being exploited by traffickers.
“We just have a little thin line between migration and Trafficking in Persons, and that thin line is exploitation. People don’t know that when a Migrant has become exploited, it has changed the program of that person to trafficking in person because some people leave Nigeria today as economic Migrants and they end up being exploited. But NAPTIP has developed high-pitched strategies ranging from policy, prevention and other systems to check traffickers” he remarked.
Also, the Keynote Speaker, Ambassador Martin Uhomoibhi, called on the citizenry to shun irregular migration saying such moves amount to bringing troubles to oneself.
He urged that migration must be conducted in a regular manner noting that there is nothing wrong with migration in itself as it is an attribute of every mammal. Responding emphatically “No” in his advice to Nigerians who took to irregular migration, he further advised,
“Avoid irregular migration that is, moving in violation of the rules and regulations of where you are moving to. If you embark on irregular migration, you automatically become a criminal and travel to another irregularly; so please, we are for migration, but migration must be conducted regularly,” he advised.
Fr. Augustine Akhogba, the Secretary of the Migrants and Refugees Unit, Department of Church and Society, CSN, said Coordinators have been appointed in different dioceses in Nigeria to work together to try to bring the message and the efforts to the people in the grassroots as directed by Pope Francis. The unit is there for the Catholic Church’s response to the issues of Migration in a pastoral way saying, “Such care also involves humanitarian services, economic intervention empowerment, amongst others and the most prominent one being spiritual care. And the Church as a missionary institution. The target is to identify with migrants of all categories in Nigeria for they to know that the Church is with them through involvement in massive sensitisation. Secondly to contribute to the overall effort to reduce poverty and desperation to migrate that drive people into dangerous associated irregular Migration” he admonished.
In his remarks, the Programmes Coordinator, Mr Timothy Ejeh, expressed optimism that the existing partnership with different organisations such as USAID, Palladium, Caritas Nigeria, NAPTIP, NACA, Action Aid, and Embassy of the Netherlands, etc. will yield huge success through this gathering towards curbing irregular Migration.
The panel of discussions moderated by Mr Simon Ajogi of JDPC also formed part of the day’s event. The session brought to the fore many dangers also associated with migration carried out illegally. Such is orchestrated with torture, hunger, sexual and economic exploitations, and deaths amongst others.
Dominica Nwabufo
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