From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
The President/Founder of RARDUJA, an NGO committed to safe migration, Hon Eddy Duru, has called for the decentralisation of migration programs and coordination in the country restricted only to federal institutions as it would enable civil society organisations (CSOs), academia, community-based organisations as well as the faith-based organisations to interrogate the efforts of the various thematic lead agencies managing the Nigerian migration governance.
He said that his organisation has been at the forefront of educating Nigerian people on the need for safe migration overseas to avoid unpleasant consequences.
Hon Duru, who is an elected councillor in Germany, stated this as chairman of the panel on “Decentralising the National Migration Dialogue” held in Owerri, Imo State.
He noted that in Nigeria migration programs and coordination activities have mostly been vested with federal government institutions within the migrating population but that ideally it should not be so, but should be decentralised to afford opportunities for Civil Society Organisations to interrogate the efforts of the various lead agencies managing the Nigerian migration governance.
“In Nigeria, migration programs and coordination activities have been largely restricted to institutions of the federal governments within which the migrating population are governed. But at the 2016 national migration dialogue participants were invited from states and local government’s and this proved to be very useful; first, it exposed the gaps that existed in the operation of the federal government agencies and the state government in terms of migration governance activities in Nigeria migration.
He added: “The dialogue affords the opportunities for civil society organisations (CSOs) academia, community-based organisations as well as the faith-based organisations to interrogate the efforts of the various thematic lead agencies managing the Nigerian migration governance architecture hence this was found very useful to further bring migration governance to the states and local government’s it is imperative to continuously mobilise the states and local government’s as well as the civil society organisations through a decentralised process and consolidate the channels of communication with migration focal points which is the most effective way of bringing migration discourse down and closer to the people, the grassroots the real people who feel the real impact of both positive and negatives of migration management hence this year state migration dialogue which focused on decentralisation of migration governance in the states as the fourth tier in migration framework,” he submitted.