Creation of Alternatives to Irregular Migration and Human Trafficking (CAIMAT), working in conjunction with Ideal Development and Resource Centre (IDRC), has stated its extension of its skill acquisition programme to 450 persons in the metropolitan council areas of Edo State with a promise to go further to the hinterland in due course.
Speaking during its Project Presentation Ceremony in Benin City, through its Coordinator, Saliu Aidorolo, CAIMAT, disabused the mind of those who are fond of going against migration saying that migration was never a sin if it is done legally.
According to Aidorolo, the training which spans two months would afford the participants all the things that can act as alternatives to the hunger for seeking for pastures overseas.
Going further, he asserted that the 450 youths that will participate in the programme are those in dire need of the alternatives “not people who are already having skills and doing well. But those who actually need them because we have some support that go with it and that is why we are taking our time to tell every stakeholder, get us the right people and we are screening them so that what we give, we can get value for it.”
Of the 450 participants 30 slots he disclosed has been reserved for Persons Living With Disability(PLWD).
Ann Ojugo, Chairman of Joint National Association of Persons With Disability (JONAPWD), Edo State Chapter, said the persons living with disability are more vulnerable to be trafficked because they are not cared for in the society.
She appealed to CAIMAT to take their initiative to the rural areas where some of these persons are based. She praised CAIMAT for extending the programme to PLWD who mostly need it more than any other group of people.
Omobude, a Director in the Edo State Ministry of Business, Trade and Cooperatives who represented the Commissioner, Afishetu Braimah, listed a horde of programmes that the Ministry has carried out to ensure that issue of irregular migration is addressed.
Joan Ojiewa, who represented the Zonal Commander of The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Barrister Nduka Nwanwenne, gave kudos to CAIMAT for initiating the skills acquisition programme which she asserted will go a long way in addressing the hydra headed issue of irregular migration.
Participants at the one day programme were of the opinion that its multiplier effect would be felt in no distant time while urging the organisers to seek for involvement of more youths across board.
