The Federal Government has asked the German government for further assistance in combating unauthorized labor migration in the nation.
Sen. Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Employment, made the request while commissioning the Nigerian-German Centre for Jobs, Migration, and Reintegration in Lagos (NGC).
He also dedicated the newly refurbished National Electronic Labour Exchange (NELEX) Centre, as well as the Zonal Director’s and State Labour Controller’s offices.
Mr. Charles Akpan, the Ministry’s Deputy Director of Press and Public Relations, stated as much in a statement.
In addition to the three current Migrant Resource Centres across Lagos, Benin, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja, the minister stated that more centers were required in the country’s six geopolitical zones.
He did, however, praise the German government’s ongoing assistance for Nigeria, while applauding the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) for creating the NGC in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
Ngige noted that the NGC was formed as a result of a collaboration agreement signed by the Ministry and GIZ on November 22, 2017, under the Global Programme Migration for Development (PMD).
According to him, the collaboration is in response to the need to boost employment, increase the potential of international labor migration, and expand the ministry’s institutional ability to effectively manage organized labor migration in development-oriented methods.
He went on to say that the partnership was equally focused on providing assistance for the return and reintegration of migrants, raising awareness about the dangers of illegal migration, and delivering guidance and information about conventional migration routes to Germany, among other things.
As a result, he praised the GIZ for donating an operable vehicle, laptops, and office equipment to the ministry as well as the three migrant resource centers in Abuja, Lagos, and Benin.
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“Like Oliver Twist, we ask for more. Let me use this opportunity to emphasise the important role of the migrant resource centres in the promotion or regular labour migration and recommend that we should have centres in the six geo-political zones of the country.
“Today, we have one in Lagos, which is in the South-West, but Lagos is the economic capital of Nigeria. So, we need an additional resource centre in Ibadan to serve the hinterland of the South-West, namely, Oyo, Osun and Ogun, Ekiti, and the Ondo States.
“We also need an additional centre in the South-East. We need one for the North, which is the hotbed of irregular migration, stretching to Niger and the desert, Libya being their first port of call, before proceeding to Europe.
”If we are able to establish one around the Kano-Kaduna axis, we can capture them young there and dissuade them from irregular migration. We also need one more resource centre in the North-East to serve the people there. You can put it in Yola or Maiduguri,” he said.
Ngige added that there was a need to match skills, in order to address the issue of skill mismatch.
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