20,000 Kano Youths Have Returned From Irregular Migration – NGO

Kano State has recorded no fewer than 20,000 returnees from irregular migration between 2017 and 2022, largely driven by youth unemployment and limited economic opportunities.

The Adolescent Health and Information Project (AHIP), a non-governmental organisation made this known during a one-day media workshop for journalists in Kano.

The organisation’s Project Manager for Resilient Opportunities for Outreach, Trade and Sustainability (ROOTS) project, Halima Usman, in a presentation of the overview of the project attributed the growing trend of irregular migration to worsening socio-economic conditions. She noted that with over 65 per cent of Kano’s population under the age of 30 and youth unemployment estimated at over 40 per cent, many young people view migration as a survival strategy.

“Between 2017 and 2022, about 20,000 irregular migrants from Kano were returned from different parts of the world. Failed migration journeys have resulted in loss of lives, debt, family impoverishment, stigma and serious reintegration challenges,” she said.

She explained that Kano remains a major departure hub for irregular migration, adding that deportations have further exposed the economic and social vulnerabilities facing returnees.

Usman disclosed that ROOTS is implementing reintegration programmes aimed at engaging returnees in skills acquisition, economic empowerment and access to funding to support small businesses and trades.

She called on the media to intensify public sensitisation against irregular migration, stressing the need for proper documentation and adherence to the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement.

Earlier, the executive director of AHIP, Hajiya Mairo Bello, said the workshop was organised to strengthen journalists’ engagement on safe and legal migration, reintegration of returnees and regional trade opportunities.

According to her, AHIP is implementing the EU-funded ROOTS Project in collaboration with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Dala, Ungogo and Bunkure local government areas, identified as major migration routes.

Dr. Bello said the initiative also supports returnees and internally displaced persons through agribusiness and enterprise development, urging the media to promote legal livelihoods at home.