NCFRMI team pays courtesy visit to UNIZIK’s Vice Chancellor

The NCFRMI team pays a courtesy visit to the Vice Chancellor of Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Prof. Joseph Eberendu Ahaneku during the commissioning of the Centre for Migration Studies, Nnamdi Azikiwe University on the 28th of August, 2018. The team which was led by the Honourable Federal Commissioner NCFRMI, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq was heartily received by the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Charles Esimone who represented the Vice Chancellor. On the team were CSOnetMADE, International Organization for Migration (IOM), a key partner of NCFRMI, members of the Technical Working Group (TWG) of the Nigerian migration management such as Ministry of Justice and Nigerian National Volunteer Service (NNVS), National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIS), etc.

While introducing the Team, the Dean of the School of Postgraduate Studies, Prof. Ike Odimegwu noted that migration is as old as mankind and has brought positive and negative returns to various peoples at various times. The perception of migration at any time, he said, has been affected by what form of return it yielded to the perceiver. Migration has become a major issue in our times. Therefore, it is pertinent to sensitize youths on the dangers of irregular migration. Migration must be done in a safe, regular and dignified manner.

He concluded by noting that youths in the Eastern Region of Nigeria are prey to the menace of irregular migration because of lack of sensitization. The sensitization program was presented as the first of a series of programmes drawn up to bring the university and indeed the academia and Anambra State into the migration conscious community.

The Honourable Federal Commissioner (NCFRMI) in her courtesy speech thanked the University for hosting the event. She observed that the importance of the academia coming into the migration discourse cannot be overemphasized. She stressed on the fact that migration should not lead to the grave. The sensitization programme is a very important mission as youths must know the dangers involved in irregular migration.

The Deputy Vice Chancellor in response informed the visitors that the sensitization programme is happening in a university named after Nnamdi Azikiwe, a believer in Youth Empowerment. The university pledged its full support to the success of the event. The Deputy Vice Chancellor aptly cautioned that irregular migration is not an individual but a collective concern. All hands must be on deck to ensure the end to the menace. He assured that the sensitization program on the dangers of irregular migration is a foundation which the university will build upon.