Migrants should be given multiple visas --Ex-US envoy






In this interview with kamarudeen Ogundele, former American Ambassador to Nigeria, William lacy Swing, explains his second mission in Nigeria as the Director General, International Organisation on Migration

What role is International Organisation on Migration playing in Nigeria?

International Organisation on Migration was created in 1951. We are in our 62nd year now. It was created after the Second World War to address the ravage of the war in United States, Canada and Australia but it has grown into a global organisation. Today we have about 9000 staff worldwide. We are in about 130 countries and we are in 440 different places. We are really an independent inter-governmental organisation but we work very closely with the United Nations. We have 149 member states. Fifty of these are African countries. So, it is in that context that I'm in Nigeria and I'm happy to be back in Nigeria.

Why are you happy to be back in Nigeria?

I have had the great honour of serving as my country's ambassador to Nigeria. Having stayed in Lagos and Abuja in the past, I believe I'm home away from home. I enjoyed so much in Nigeria. I have a lot of friends who are Nigerians and some living in Nigeria. My visit is very simple.  It is to lend support to our Chief of Mission. We came here to have conversation with the government and our staff. We also want to accentuate the importance of Nigeria in the migration field. Of course, it is the most populous country on the continent. It is a major source of migrants and destination for others. There are many Nigerians abroad. There are a lot of them in the Diaspora. I would be holding a special ministerial Diaspora conference in June in which we will try to find out how we can support people living in Diaspora better and how can they also in return support their own country. We will be meeting with leadership of agencies. Migration is overwhelmingly a positive force in life. We should look at migration as a positive thing. We do a lot of work with the Minister of Interior through the Nigeria Immigration Service; we work with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Person, Border Agency. We will be meeting with the non-governmental organisations.

Since you opened Nigeria office in 2002, what has the country benefitted?

Since we opened our office in 2002, we have been working with Nigeria to curtail trafficking in person; both Nigerians who have been trafficked and those who have been trafficked into the country against their will. We will look at ways that we can spur various ministries to organise training and capacity building to manage migration effectively. Migration is the new trend of where people are looking for employment. I am here to ascertain our level of progress, areas that need improvement and how we can make it better. I have a lot of respect for European government engagement. I was in United Nations peace keeping mission before resuming this position. So, I worked a lot with both the Nigeria police and military in peace keeping operation including Congo. So, we have friendly relationship.

How well do you think Nigeria is doing in the fight against human trafficking?

What I have seen is that there is a great desire by the government to address human trafficking. We are working together. My view is that whatever the status of the problem we need to do more. Media is key to the solution. There is need to sensitise young people that there are unscrupulous people who are criminals. Trafficking is part of a global criminal network. It is number three after drugs and guns. It brings about $40bn (N6.35trn) a year globally. It is a lunatic figure and totally inhuman. It is a global criminal act of our time. So we are looking at ways to strengthen and expand the programme as possible. The downgrading of Nigeria from tier one to tier two has to do with the review of judicial process in terms of prosecution of the perpetrators of human trafficking. I think by and large, NAPTIP has done well in terms of advocating for fast tracking these cases of perpetrators of these acts. They have also demonstrated to the nation that institutional capacity is very important in trying to deal with trafficking.

What is your mode of operation?

We work with government to establish migration policy. Nigeria is an immigration and emigration attractive country. It receives migrants from neighbouring countries and migrants on their way to other countries in the region. We are working at regional level with ECOWAS commission to establish a regional migration policy that will look at the aspect of countering trafficking human beings which is one of the worst practices.

What do you think other countries are doing right that Nigeria should emulate?

I would like to commend the ECOWAS states for their trans-border policy. You can move very freely without the problem of having to procure a visa. I think that is commendable. One of the characteristics of human beings is for people to move freely to pursue their career, ambition, aspiration and dreams. I think that is very important. I think of the things some countries are doing well for example is that they are pursuing multicultural policy in which you try to remove the discrimination or stigma as regards to your origin, and culture. Freedom of movement is very important. Providing protection to migrants because they are often most vulnerable. Of the 240 million migrants, at least 50 percent of them are women. There has been a feminisation of migrants. Many of them are not just women going to join their family which is a good thing though, there are also many of them taking their destiny into their hands and pursuing their career. They are much more vulnerable than men. So, we need to do more in every country to ensure the protection of lives and human rights of migrants. We need to also help to prepare the public for the arrival of migrants. The fact that migrants look differently in speech and dressing does not necessarily mean they share different values. The public should have a more open and receptive attitude to migrants. In that aspect, I think the idea of giving people multiple entry visa instead of single entry is helpful.

What do you expect as a policy from government?

Let me put in perspective. If the people living in the Diaspora are to put themselves into a single country, they will be probably be about five or six millions in the world. If you put their resources together, you will realise $440bn a year. About 26 countries in the world have created special ministries for the Diaspora. So, we thought, why don't we invite these ministries to Geneva to share their experiences with one another? After the Geneva conference, we will publish our experience in a small book so that will be our contribution to the issue of migration. We have invited 149 member states and Nigeria will be represented. So, we hope that it would be a productive conference.

Migrants are often suspected for being crises, how true is this?

We want the media to enhance the perception about migrants because there is a lot of negative perception about migrants. When there are no jobs, we assume that migrants have taken our jobs. When there is increase in crime rate in any country, we suspect the migrants. When there is insecurity, we blame migrants. When there is an economic crisis, we blame the migrants. That is where the media can help us. In Italy, the Italians think that 35 per cent of the population are migrants but the truth is that they are actually seven per cent. When they talk about migrants, they don't talk about the benefits they contribute to the nation like remittances and skills; it is always the negative things. The media needs to change that perception.




Punch