Safe Migration: IOM reaches 200 communities, sensitises 25,545 people

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says it has reached about 200 communities in Nigeria and sensitised no fewer than 25,545 people to safe migration.

It said that the feat was achieved since the beginning of its community dialogue and community theatre initiative.

Mrs Cyprine Cheptepkeny, the Awareness Raising Officer, IOM Nigeria, disclosed this during the launch of the community dialogue and community theatre manuals on irregular migration, trafficking in persons and smuggling in migrants on Thursday in Abuja.

Cheptepkeny said that IOM had also trained 810 community leaders from Lagos, Edo and Delta, who would in turn train others on safe migration.

She said that the programme was designed to enable migrants and potential migrants to make an informed decision about their migratory journey.

Cheptepkeny noted that the participants took part in refresher training exercises revealing that 69 community dialogue roll-out sessions were conducted, reaching 1,486 persons in Lagos, Edo and Delta between March 2019 and February 2021.

According to her, 88 per cent of persons interviewed during key informant interviews stated that the views of people in their community changed after the community dialogue sessions.

Frantz Celestin, Chief of Mission, IOM, said that the manual would provide more guidance to key partners on how community-based actions.

He said that it would be such that using community dialogue and theatre could be used to promote home-grown solutions on trafficking in persons.

“Since the inception of the joint initiative in April, IOM, in collaboration with NAPTIP and NOA, has been engaged in implementing various awareness raising activities in Nigeria, designed to cause behavioural change among potential migrants and their families and friends.

“These interventions aim to improve access to trusted information sources and promote informed decision-making, by sensitising potential migrants to regular migration options, vulnerabilities to trafficking in Persons, and risks associated with irregular migration.

“The interventions are designed to highlight the opportunities that abound at home, foster social cohesion among migrants and their community members and encourage home-grown initiatives to indigenous problems,” he stated.