The Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) has explained why Nigerians, especially the youth, are relocating abroad in their large numbers.
It said specifically that the exodus is driven largely by social, economic and security concerns.
The Comptroller of Immigration Service in Enugu State, Mr. Joachim Olumba, said this on Thursday during a sensitisation campaign on the scourge of Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) for stakeholders in Enugu State.
The NIS Directorate organised the enlightenment in collaboration with the International Center for Migration Policy and Development (ICMPD).
According to Olumba, the rate at which Nigerians flee to foreign countries is becoming a worrisome phenomenon.
“Indeed, this programme couldn’t have been held at a more appropriate time, considering the alarming rate at which, not only the youth, but also older generation of Nigerians, exhibit interest to leave the country.
“This is creating a worrisome phenomenon, which has come to be known in local parlance as ‘Japa’,” he said.
He said the urge to jet out of the country is usually driven largely by social, economic and security concerns, adding that Nigerians, especially the youth, are leaving the shores of the country in droves.
“To many, what is paramount is to achieve the goal of migrating from the country and not the means of reaching their destinations.
“Whether they are smuggled or trafficked, or they even get to leave the country by means of stowaway, does not really matter to them.
“The ultimate interest is to relocate to foreign lands. As far as the vast majority is concerned, the end will eventually justify the means,” he said.
The Comptroller said the desperation has brought unspeakable hardships on numerous migrants.
He further said many have oftentimes been subjected to various degrees of harrowing experiences that eventually hunt them for the rest of their lives.
“This life of regret occasioned by the ill-advised mission to migrate by all means has exercised far-reaching consequences on countless victims of SOM.
“This is why this Sensitization and Enlightenment campaign has become auspicious and absolutely necessary.
“It is designed to equip migration managers and stakeholders with adequate knowledge to contain the scourge.
“And to arm the public with relevant information on how not to migrate in order to escape being victims of desperate promoters of SOM and TIP,” he said.
He disclosed the event would expose the reality that “not all offers to take our beloved ones overseas should be accepted.”
He commended the NIS and their collaborators for bringing the campaign to Enugu.
“You have undoubtedly taken a proactive action to stem the growing and troubling incidence of SOM in the state and beyond.
“We hope that the partnership will be sustained until the dangerous phenomenon is totally eliminated.
“We must not continue to watch while our children, the future hope of our beloved nation, are daily exposed to the grave danger posed by SOM,” he said.
In her goodwill message, the South East Zonal Coordinator, NAPTIP, Mrs Nneka Ajie, said it was time for every stakeholder to stand up against the menace.
“We all have stakes in the scourge; if you don’t stand firm, the scourge will continue,” she said.
Ajie commended the immigration service for her fight against smuggling of migrants.
She said that many migrants had met their untimely death through the menace.
Meanwhile, the World Bank had said that an increasing number of young Nigerians are looking to leave the country in search of a brighter economic future.
The Bank disclosed this after a study titled “Of Roads Less Traveled: Assessing the Potential for Migration to Provide Overseas Jobs for Nigeria’s Youth”.
According to the study, Nigeria placed third in West Africa among the nations polled, trailing only Liberia (70 percent) and Sierra Leone (60 percent) in terms of respondents who would relocate permanently to another country.
Niger Republic was the lowest placed country in the study, coming in at 10%.
“With rising migratory pressures created by poor employment conditions, Nigerians are increasingly choosing to migrate through irregular means,” the Bank said.
It continued that Nigerians were the largest group of migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa coming in Europe in 2016 and 2017, with almost 40,000 landing in Italy in 2016, with over 90% arriving by sea.