All Edo state residents has been urged by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), to always travel through right routes when embarking on foreign trips to avoid being victims of smuggling.
The Assistant Comptroller-General in charge of Migration Directorate, NIS, Abuja, Mrs Angela Esekhaigbe, gave the advice at a sensitisation campaign against Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) in Benin on Wednesday.
While adressing students of Idia College, a girls’ school in Benin, Esekhaigbe, she urged the students to say no to being smuggled to Libya enroute Europe.
According to Esekhaigbe, children who fell victims to smuggling activities were kidnapped and exploited.
She also added that they go through untold sufferings in the hands of their captors.
Mr Dominic Asogwa, Assistant Comptroller-General, Benin Zone G, also said that the burden SOM in and outside Nigeria had become a national threat to the well being of the country, hence the campaign to stem the tide.
Furthermore, he said that Nigerian migrants go through a lot of sufferings in the hands of smugglers who act as facilitators of land journeys to Europe.
Mrs Rabi Garba, Comptroller of Immigration Service, Edo Command, while speaking to traders at Oba Market, said awareness creation was a better and most viable tool to help stem the ugly menace of SOM.
Garba also advised members of the public to always visit NIS to get information about their travel destinations as well as procurement of their international passports.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the campaign was organised by NIS, Edo command, in collaboration with the International Centre for Migration Policy Development.
It was also reported that the command had held a nationwide sensitisation on SOM for NIS personnel, border management agencies and the general public in collaboration with development partners in Benin on Tuesday.
The Comptroller-General, NIS, Isah Idris said at the event, that synergy between critical stakeholders was needed to combat the current trend of SOM within and outside the country.