MSC commends FG policy to end illegal migration by land, sea, air

MIGRATION Study Centre, Abuja have lauded the Federal Government for adopting the Global Pact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration which will put an end to illegal migration by land, air and sea.

This recent move by the government supports orderly and legal migration of individuals by land, sea and air.

The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) along with other Heads of State and Government and High Representatives meeting in Marrakech, Morocco on 10-11 December 2018, adopted the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration.

Professor Sam Smah, the Chairman Migration Study Centre, Abuja said “the Global Compact itself rests on the principles espoused in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and core international human rights Treaties, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime including the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children and the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, among others”.

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Nigeria’s position followed a broad-based national consultation involving relevant stakeholders from Government, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), Academic, trade unions, private sector, and international partners. We congratulate the Federal Government through the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons (NCRIDP), which is the Lead-agency that steered the processes.

“We note that migration issues are increasingly becoming more complicated and distressing for especially irregular migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons all over the world. Many young persons take risky actions in the bid to escaping the economic, political and social challenges at home.

We therefore, urge Federal and State governments, donor agencies, International Development Partners as well as endowed well-spirited individuals to take further urgent steps by investing in our youths and their future, thereby forestalling cases of unnecessary deaths, kidnappings, abductions, slavery and human trafficking, all of which are directly associated with irregular migration and also mitigating the risks arising therefrom”, Professor Smah said.