Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has urged the media practitioners to stop criminalising migration popularly known as ‘Japa’.
Dabiri-Erewa made the call at the sixth International Conference on Development and Communication in Africa held in Keffi Local Government Area of Nasarawa State.
Media Talk Africa reports that the theme of the conference organised by the Institute of Strategic and Development Communication, ISDEVCOM, Nasarawa State University Keffi, NSUK, is “Japa: Communicating migration, diaspora and Africa’s development”.
The NiDCOM boss, who was represented by Sule Bassi, Secretary of NIDCOM, urged the media to engage in open, honest conversations about both the opportunities and challenges that come with migration.
“We must first of all identify and agree that migration is a fundamental human right issue. Regular migration, therefore, should not be criminalised in any way whatsoever,” she said.
She cautioned that the unscrupulous activities done by a few Nigerians was not enough for the criminalisation of all Nigerians in the diaspora.
“The media, therefore should present factual and balanced reportage on Nigerians and Africans generally in the diaspora, mostly on achievements done by Nigerians abroad.
“Furthermore we must address the brain-drain syndrome by fostering environments where our youths can thrive, thereby turning the brain drain to brain gain calculation,” she added.
She described the theme of the conference as apt, of great importance to Africans and that the conference presented a timely intervention to reflect, collaborate and interrogate communication strategies to build stronger connections between Nigeria’s diaspora and the continent” and write the story of the exploits of the people of the diaspora.
Dabiri-Erewa also called on academics, policymakers, media practitioners and diaspora engagement influencers to work collaboratively to ensure that migration contributes to Nigeria’s development and growth rather than worsening the challenges.
