“Facilitate wellbeing, rights of migrants”: Catholic Official in Nigeria to Stakeholders

On the transfer of skills, he gave the example of those who have migrated because of “the recent Boko Haram happenings” in Adamawa State, moving from the Northern part of the country to the Southern.

“Those people came down to the south made use of the opportunity because they were great farmers and they were able to farm and the farm produced bountifully,” Fr. Samjumi said.

He continued, “Looking back three, four years ago some migrants were people seeking refuge but today some of them are landlords in their host communities; they are contributing to the development of those communities.”

Also speaking during the December 18 event, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Switzerland, Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, advised young people in Nigeria to explore all the opportunities in their country before considering to travel elsewhere.

“There are three sides to migration, the good, the bad, and the ugly,” Ambassador Uhomoibhi said.

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He explained, “Part of the good thing about migration is that when you migrate, you can bring wealth from one part of the world to another part, and while there, you can contribute to development of that country.”

“When you migrate, you are exposed to greater knowledge and greater vision; you get to also boost the economy and wellbeing of the place you are migrating to,” he further said, and added, “It’s even better when you migrate, and you develop yourself and come back from there to come and develop your country.”

He however cautioned against taking the risk of migrating through illegal approaches, saying that it could have a “tragic end”.

Abah Anthony John contributed to the writing of this story

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