IOM berth at Edo polytechnic for awareness Campaign irregular Migration

Edo State Polytechnic, Usen, Ovia South-West Local Government of Edo State, Nigeria, has hosted the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) when the later took its awareness campaign there.

Town Crier News reports that the awareness exercise was carried out through the MaM ‘Migration Room,’ whereby returned migrants interact with potential migrants to discuss issues that border on irregular migration, trafficking and smuggling of persons.

Migrant Room is a platform for sharing information so as to minimize chances of  vulnerable persons falling victims of irregular migration, according to IOM Awareness Raising Officer, Cyprine Cheptepkeny.
Speaking at the awareness campaign project, Represented by IOM Project Assistant, Elijah Elaigwu, Cyprine said the choice of Edo State Polytechnic was informed by the realisation that it is a youth dominated community that are prime target of traffickers.
She disclosed that the programme was meant to educate the academic community on the ills of irregular migration for the purpose of ensuring that the students do not fall victims, while promoting safe migration.
She used the occasion to educate on the Blue Bus project, a partnership project of IOM and NAPTIP, with support from the Swiss Government which focuses on human trafficking, and counseling
Also, the Director, Centre for Gender Studies, Edo State Polytechnic, Usen, Mrs. Esther Oriarewo in her remarks, described human trafficking as a human rights violation.
Meanwhile, the Benin Zonal Commander, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Chidi Ebere Ororo-Ifudu, while x-raying the role of youths in checking human trafficking, noted that many youths have been deceived and have fallen victims of exploitation such as child labour forced labour, organ harvesting and forced marriage.

Represented by Joan Ojewa, the NAPTIP boss, said human trafficking affects the economy, leads to stigmatisation and rejection by society, while victims are also denied their freedom.
She said that human trafficking can be addressed through skills acquisition, pointing out that migration is a positive idea when embarked rightly.