The Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Ndubuisi Mbah on Monday commended the International Organization for Migration, IOM, for their role in the safe return of three hundred and fifty, 350, Enugu indigenes from Libya and Niger Republic.
Receiving IOM delegates led by the Chief of Mission, Laurent De Boeck at the Government House, Enugu, Governor Mbah assures of his administration’s readiness to settle and reintegrate the returnees back into the system with well mapped programs even as his administration will facilitate the setting up of IOM zonal office in the state.
“As a government, we are quite ready to collaborate with you in the areas of integration of these victims and also those who may just be stranded abroad and interested in coming back home, to be reintegrated into their home state.”
“We have a lot of program to cater for the welfare and wellbeing of our people. We have several radical programs in the social services sector; education and healthcare,” Mbah said.
On setting up IOM zonal office in the state, the Governor said, “It should not be a case that if our people are to be brought back from outside the country, they would be kept in Lagos or elsewhere. I think they should be brought back to Enugu and we should be able to have at least a transit camp where they can stay and undergo counseling to get them reintegrated.”
“Therefore, we are happy to work with you to have a zonal office in Enugu, as I was made to understand you are interested in securing one,” Governor Mbah promised.
Introducing the policy planned for indigenes in diaspora, Mbah revealed intentions to tap into the positive side of migration by working in synergy with diasporas.
“One of many program we have for our diaspora is Disapora Bond, which we hope to launch sometime in April this year.”
“We believe that there are quite a lot of values that the diasporas can bring to our economy beyond remittances for consumption. So, we are designing an investment that can guarantee or secure their investment and also show some returns; we know that it will be attractive to them. This is why we are investing in the Enugu State Diaspora Investment Summit to raise awareness and tap into the consciousness of our people,” Mbah disclosed.
Earlier, the IOM Chief of Mission, Laurent De Boeck, said IOM’s goal is to ensure safe return and reintegration into the society of young able migrants who left the country in search of greener pastures.
“For years, we have worked with some of our offices abroad and in other countries where we have identified Enugu people, who were stranded or were victims of smugglers and traffickers. And in this regard, we have organized their return and reintegration.
“We have returned 350 people so far to Enugu. Our offices in Libya and Niger Republic are where we have identified most of them. We have more of them in the plane coming back to Lagos, and we will look at the manifest to know if there is still any person from Enugu State among them, and we will activate their return,” he stated.
De Boeck commended the Enugu Government’s initiative to create a synergy with successful Nigerians in diaspora while assuring the state of IOM’s readiness to assist in this respect given their rich data base and contacts with Nigerian professionals, businessmen and women, students, among others.
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