By Fatima Zahra Muhammad
The Journalists International Forum For Migration (JIFORM) in Nigeria has called on the government to implement the country’s policies on migration.
The forum stated this during a conference on tackling irregular migration and human trafficking held in Lagos.
Speaking during the event, the president of the forum, Dr. Ajibola Abayomi said that the stakeholders had convened to find lasting solutions to the challenge of illegal migration in Nigeria.
According to Abayomi, many of Nigeria’s policies on migration are not implemented, thereby leaving the country’s migrants at the receiving end.
“We must be bothered about “Japa” syndrome, a lexicon that many Nigerian youths embrace out of ignorance.
“Our migration policies should confer more dignity on Nigerians instead of stating the obvious on the paper alone.
“There should be more political will to create an enabling environment to address the pull and push factors encouraging irregular migration,” he said.
He noted that many Nigerians were being sold into slavery, mostly under the guise of seeking greener pastures.
“We cannot continue to live in denial as a huge number of our citizens are being lured and sold into slavery.
“These are done at intervals through irregular migration and human trafficking whether they are victims of deceit or they are desperate to seek greener pasture abroad certainly,” he said.
The conference was convened to encourage journalists to give more attention to issues of migration in their reportage.
