Gov. Godwin Obaseki of Edo says as part of efforts to stop human trafficking and illegal migration, his administration is partnering the Federal Government on a project hat will ensure people travel legally and properly.
The governor disclosed this during his 2018 New Year’ day’s broadcast on Monday in Benin.
“Our saddest moment in 2017, was the very shocking and sad experiences of our sons and daughters in Libya: who fell victims to one of the worst forms of evil, which is human trafficking,’’ Obaseki said.
“People, who left our shores with high hopes for greener pastures only to be subjected to all manner of inhuman treatments such as slavery, organ harvesting while many died in the Sahara Desert and in the Mediterranean Sea.’’
He said that the project would involve training and certification for youths, who then would be issued visas to travel legally if they wanted to.
“Our skills’ acquisition centres will offer training, certification and process the issuance of visas to those who want to travel under well defined structures to do so safely and with dignity.
He said his administration was also cooperating with the Federal Government, development partners and other stakeholders to execute a comprehensive strategy to identify, track, arrest and prosecute all those involved in the heinous crime.
“We were all pained to read harrowing accounts of the experiences of the returnees and even more pained to see videos of their unfortunate experiences on the internet.
“We have also put in place a comprehensive welcome, documentation, counselling, training, rehabilitation and empowerment programme for the returnees.
“I am glad to inform you all that we are recording great successes on all fronts in this regard,” the governor said. (NAN)
