By Adebisi Adeyemi, Lagos
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) said over 2,114 Nigerian returnees from Libya had been brought to the country from January till date.
The Head, Press & Public Relations of NAPTIP, Mr Josiah Emerole, disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Saturday.
Emerole quoted the Director-General of the agency, Ms Julie Okah-Donli as disclosing this at a lecture she delivered at the University of Benin as part of activities marking the 60th birthday of businessman and philanthropist, Capt. Idahosa Okunbo.
The D-G delivered a lecture on Youth Migration, Deportation and Rehabilitation: The Way Forward, under the theme: ‘Youth Migration, Consequences and Current Realities.’
Okah-Donli appealed to public spirited individuals and corporate bodies to assist government agencies to make the reintegration of the returnees easier.
The director-general called for a holistic approach by the countries of origin and their destination counterparts in tackling the migration problems across the world.
The NAPTIP boss advised Nigerian youths not to be desperate to leave the country at all cost.
She said that the criminal trafficking gangs were lurking all over the place to deceive the youths and eventually make them personal economic tools abroad.
“There is need for government at all levels to come up with transformation programmes and a National Orientation and Reorientation programme that will change people’s attitude to migration.
“Without this, an attitude crisis will be another major driving force for illegal migration and something fundamental must be done to control and contain the illegal movement of people out of the countries.
“A crucial step forward is to help to re-orient and re-educate the average Nigerian youth to make them realise that they can actualise their potentials and dreams at home.
“They should know that they are not poorer than their contemporaries abroad or in the country they want to migrate.’’
Okah-Donli advocated for direct foreign investments to open up the Nigerian economy.
“Government should provide the tangible mass employment for the teeming youths and thereby discouraging unnecessary migration of Nigerians to other parts of the world in search of greener pastures,’’ she advised.
NAPTIP boss also called for a National orientation and re-orientation programmes across the country to change the psyche of the Nigerian youth, who believe that they can only survive by leaving the country to other places.
