FG seeks more foreign support to tackle irregular migration

The Federal Government has solicited for more support from the German government to tackle irregular labour migration in the country.

The Minister of Labour and Employment, Sen. Chris Ngige made the appeal in Lagos while commissioning the Nigerian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration and Reintegration (NGC).

He also commissioned, the newly upgraded National Electronic Labour Exchange (NELEX) Centre and Offices of the Zonal Director and State Labour Controller.

This is contained in a statement by Mr Charles Akpan, the Deputy Director, Press and Public Relations in the Ministry.

The minister said that in addition to the three existing Migrant Resource Centres in Lagos, Benin and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, more centres were needed in the six geo-political zones of the country.

He however, acknowledged the continuous support of the German government to Nigeria, while commending the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) for establishing the NGC in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

Ngige recalled that the NGC was established within the framework of the partnership agreement signed by the Ministry and GIZ on Nov. 22, 2017, under the Global Programme Migration for Development (PMD).

According to him, the partnership is in recognition of the need to promote employment, enhance the potential of international labour migration and strengthen the institutional capacity of the ministry to effectively manage organised labour migration in development-oriented ways.

He added that the collaboration was equally geared towards providing support for the return and reintegration of migrants, awareness creation on the risk of illegal migration as well as offering advice and providing information on regular pathways of migration to Germany, among others.

He, therefore, commended the GIZ for the donation of an operational vehicle, computers and office equipment to the ministry and the three migrant resource centres in Abuja, Lagos and Benin.

“Like Oliver Twist, we ask for more. Let me use this opportunity to emphasise the important role of the migrant resource centres in the promotion or regular labour migration and recommend that we should have centres in the six geo-political zones of the country.”

“Today, we have one in Lagos, which is in the South-West, but Lagos is the economic capital of Nigeria. So, we need an additional resource centre in Ibadan to serve the hinterland of the South-West, namely, Oyo, Osun and Ogun, Ekiti and Ondo States.”

“We also need additional centre in the South-East. We need one for the North, which is the hotbed of irregular migration, stretching to Niger and the desert, Libya being their first port of call, before proceeding to Europe.”

”If we are able to establish one around Kano-Kaduna axis, we can capture them young there and dissuade them from irregular migration. We also need one more resource centre in the North-East to serve the people there. You can put it in Yola or Maiduguri,” he said.

Ngige added that there was need to match skills, in order to address the issue of skill mismatch.