Irregular migration: Before 2015, every capsized boat had one Edo person on it – Obaseki

Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State has said before 2015, every boat that capsized on the sea while crossing to Europe had an Edo indigene on it.

Obaseki said this in an interview with journalists in Benin, the state capital.

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He said his administration would sustain efforts at ensuring that all Edo youths are adequately empowered to live life to the fullest.

“Before 2015, the image of Edo State was bad and synonymous with trafficking as Benin City was referred to as
a suspect. Edo had about 30,000 of its citizens in Libya trying to cross to Europe.”

“For every boat that capsized, there was one Edo person there on irregular migration and every Edo girl that tried to travel was a suspect.”

He said his administration is tackling the scourge of irregular migration and human trafficking among youths in the state through job creation initiatives and entrepreneurship programmes

According to him, his administration has made remarkable success in tackling human trafficking and irregular migration, as the government has traced its root causes to address it.

“Our young people were in a hurry to leave the country and it became a problem for my administration in restoring the hope of Edo youths,” he noted.

“Lack of job increased the problem of human trafficking. So, while campaigning, I did what most politicians would not do; I campaigned with job creation, promising to create 200,000 jobs.

“Five years running now, we have done well in terms of job creation for Edo people.

“For any community to be great, the young people must be very hopeful. Edo produced some best-quality manpower; there are more hopes.

“We would continue to invest in the states’ skills development agency, Edojobs, and attract more investors into the state to develop Edo,”.

He said his government would continue to earn the trust of the majority of Edo people by sustaining programmes and projects to positively impact the lives of citizens.

“One of the biggest challenges of the government is trust. People don’t trust their leaders, but we are trying to make the people trust us and the system.”