- The Acting Comptroller General of NIS urges Nigerians to relocate abroad legally and launches an anti-smuggling campaign to sensitize them about the dangers of irregular migration
- Nigeria aims to prevent the loss of youths through illegal routes and advocates for safe, orderly, and regular migration
Adepoju Wuraola, Acting Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), has urged Nigerians who want to relocate abroad to do so legally.
She gave this advice while launching the “2023 Anti-Smuggling of Migrants Nationwide Sensitization and Enlightenment Campaign” at the NIS headquarters in Abuja on Thursday to mark the NIS’s 60th anniversary.
The acting CG stated that it was important to educate Nigerians about the dangers of irregular migration, adding that the country was losing too many youths through the illegal routes.
The government of Nigeria is against smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons and we know that education and sensitisation is an effective way of prevention.We do not want to continue to lose youths to the dangerous trans-Sahara route and the treacherous Mediterranean Sea in their attempt to seek greener pasture.
We know that many people want to go abroad seeking greener pastures. It is not bad but these journeys must be safe, must be orderly, and must be regular.We enjoin the public to join hands with us to do everything it takes to create awareness among our youths that there is hope in this country. There is no limit to what you can achieve if you are ready to work hard in this country.
Kemi Nandap, the Acting Deputy Comptroller General in charge of the Directorate of Migration, also spoke out, lamenting the deaths of many Nigerian youths while attempting to seek greener pastures abroad via illegal routes.
According to data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), at least 1200 Nigerians died while attempting to migrate through the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean Sea in 2023 alone.
We have a big problem in this country and that is the issue of ‘Japa syndrome’. We have so many of our youths who are dying in the Sahara, dying in the Mediterranean Sea. They are dying for no cause.
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