The second annual Journalists International Forum for Migration (JIFORM) global migration summit scheduled for October 15th, 2020, in the Oyo State capital, Ibadan, the acclaimed largest city in West Africa, has received boosts from the office of Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde’s Special Assistant on Diaspora Matters, Honourable Bolanle Sarumi-Aliyu and the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) as both have pledged their support for the event.
The workshop/ summit themed Migration Governance and Media Strategy for Development During Pandemic is billed to feature Professor Patrick Lumumba from Kenya as chairman while the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede will unveil the conference.
Speaking during a visit to the headquarters of NAPTIP in Abuja over the weekend by the JIFORM President, Ajibola Abayomi accompanied by Joseph Undu Seater of Daily Independent newspaper the Director General of the agency, Barrister Julie Donli-Okah, applauded the foundation and expressed readiness to work with the body and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that the nation was rid of human trafficking in all ramifications.
She promised to review the proposal presented to her and revert on possible support for the summit in due course.
Ajibola sought for collaboration with NAPTIP and urged the agency not to rest on its oars while commending the DG for her advocacy against irregular migration and human trafficking.
The JIFORM President seized the oppourtunity to present to the DG a merit award reserved for her since November 26, 2019 at the inaugural conference of the media foundation in Abuja.
Similarly on Thursday at the Oyo State Government House in Ibadan, Bolanle Sarumi-Aliyu, the SSA on Diaspora Matters to the State Governor, officially endorsed the summit saying that it was timely and relevant to the current trend of migration.
The governor’s aide said her boss was not only rescuing stranded indigenes of the state from abroad but has also been providing palliatives and assisting them with rehabilitation schemes aimed at reintegrating them back to the society.
She said her office would do all that was within her reach to ensure the success of the summit.
Sarumi-Aliyu also hinted that the state was ready to tap from diaspora economy by encouraging investments into the state and had inaugurated anti-human trafficking agency headed by the state’s commissioner of justice to curtail human trafficking henceforth.
