Makinde, NAPTIP Back JIFORM Summit

Ololade Adeyanju/

The second annual Journalists International Forum For Migration (JIFORM) global migration summit has received boosts from the office of the Special Assistant on Diaspora Matters to Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Honourable Bolanle Sarumi-Aliyu and the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking In Persons (NAPTIP) as both had pledged support for the event.

JIFORM is a registered media professional body and umbrella body for over 200 journalists covering migration across the continents.

The workshop/ summit with the theme ‘Migration Governance and Media Strategy for Development During Pandemic’ is billed to hold in Ibadan Oyo State capital on October 15, 2020, with 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 led by JIFORM President, Ajibola Abayomi accompanied by Joseph Undu Seater of Daily Independent to the Headquarters of NAPTIP in Abuja on Friday, the Director-General of the agency, Dame Julie Okah-Donli 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 Government House in Ibadan, the SSA on Diaspora Matters officially endorsed the summit saying that it was timely and relevant to the current trend of migration.

According to her, Governor Makinde 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.

Hon Sarumi-Aliyu added 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.

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