Tobias Sylvester
The Federal Government has cautioned Nigerian youths against falling prey to traffickers in their quest to seek employment abroad.
Memunat Idu-Lah, director of international cultural relations in the ministry of information and culture, spoke during an interview with NAN on Sunday.
Idu-Lah, who noted that everything is not about money, warned youths seeking employment opportunities abroad to be careful, so as not to end up as victims of trafficking.
She advised the youths to seek opportunities within the country, adding that there are different empowerment programmes that can enable them to be productive.
“Our youths should look inward and be creative. Everybody has one creativity or the other. Everybody has something they’re born to do in this world,” she said.
“I think we should discourage the youths from going out. If they need support, there are some government agencies saddled with the responsibility of providing many empowerment programmes.
“These agencies can support youths to learn something and be productive, rather than looking at running out. We should not think of going out. We should try to look inward and believe in government’s programmes.
“The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) is there, and so many programmes that the government has put in place to help the youths — to encourage them.
“The people coming to take them will not tell them the truth. It is only when the children are out of the village and they are with their traffickers alone, that’s when sometimes, it is too late and they can’t go back,” Idu-Lah said.
“So, they have to know that everything is not [about] money. The children can stay back in Nigeria, even help Nigeria’s economy, because when they use their hands to do something creative, they can add to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation, instead of even losing our good hands in the name of trafficking and they die in the process.
“Both ways, we are trying to help the economy and we are also trying to save lives that are going to be lost. We hear cases of organ trafficking, organ sales. They kill people in the process and sell their organs — all sorts of things are going on.
“We are going to use the commemoration of this year’s World Slavery and its Abolition Day to create awareness on the effects of these vices.”
This comes a few days after Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari said Nigerian youths are jobless because they’re not willing to work.
