Found of Blacks Ancestral Native Communities (BANC) Foundation, Dr Chibuzo Onyema, has called for a partnership between the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FMFA), relevant government agencies, employers, development partners and international organisations to establish pathways for tackling irregular migration among young Africans.
Onyema, convener of the Anti-Irregular Migration Summit, said skills acquisition alone would not stop young people from embarking on irregular migration unless the skills could be converted into decent jobs, sustainable livelihoods and income-generating opportunities.
He made the call while explaining the Africa Global Employability and Mobility Solutions (AfriGEMS), a human-capital development and migration-mitigation initiative developed by BANC Foundation and implemented through the Pathways Institute for Mobility Alternatives (PIMA), in Abuja over the weekend.
He said to him, AfriGEMS is designed to support efforts by African and European institutions to mitigate irregular migration by addressing some of the economic realities that compel young people to seek opportunities outside their countries.
He stated that young people who acquire skills but cannot find decent work or earn sustainable incomes could still see migration as their only viable option.
Onyema argued that interventions against irregular migration should go beyond discouraging young people from leaving their countries and instead address the economic conditions that influence their decisions.
‘A distinguishing feature of AfriGEMS is its deliberate connection between skills development, employability and responsible human mobility,’ he said.
According to him, the initiative equips young Africans with globally relevant industrial, technical, vocational, digital and green skills through practical training and apprenticeships linked to certification, employment and entrepreneurship.
He stressed that the model was not built around certificates alone but around creating a practical route through which participants could develop competencies that translate into employment, enterprise creation and productive livelihoods.
He explained that participants would be prepared to acquire demonstrable competencies linked to apprenticeships, local employment, self-employment, enterprise creation and other income-generating opportunities.
He added that where legitimate opportunities existed, the model would also provide pathways to ethical and regular cross-border employment.
Onyema said the intended progression was from skills acquisition to occupational competence, apprenticeship or enterprise, employment and sustainable livelihood, and ultimately regular mobility opportunities for those who chose to migrate.
He said this approach was necessary because migration itself was not necessarily the problem, stressing that the major concern was migration undertaken through unsafe and irregular channels that could expose young people to trafficking, exploitation, fraudulent recruitment and other abuses.
‘Rather than leaving opportunity-seeking youths vulnerable to exploitative agents, fraudulent recruiters and trafficking networks, governments adopting the AfriGEMS model can engage destination countries and legitimate employers directly to facilitate verified employment and regular migration pathways,’ he said.
The BANC founder said governments and relevant institutions should therefore work with employers and destination countries to develop credible labour-mobility channels through which young people with relevant skills could access legitimate employment opportunities.
He said such an arrangement would also make it possible to properly identify and document people seeking to migrate for employment, while supporting the safe, orderly and regular processing of labour mobility.
Onyema called for partnership involving the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relevant government agencies including the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) and National Directorate of Employment (NDE), universities and polytechnics, employers and licensed private employment agencies.
He also identified international organisations and development partners, including the International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Organisation for Migration (IOM), German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) and International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), as potential partners.
He said such collaboration was necessary to ensure that training programmes responded to verified labour-market demand and that young people did not end up with skills that had little connection to available employment opportunities.
‘Training must respond to verified labour-market demand, employers must provide apprenticeships and jobs, and governments and destination countries must establish bilateral labour pathways,’ Onyema said.
He added that development partners and international organisations could support standards, certification and safeguards required to protect young people throughout the recruitment, employment and migration process.
According to him, employers should be actively involved in the process by providing apprenticeships and job opportunities, while training institutions should align their programmes with the skills required in the labour market.
He said governments, on their part, should provide the institutional framework needed to connect skills development with decent work and, where appropriate, regular international labour mobility.
Onyema said AfriGEMS was therefore intended to create ‘credible economic alternatives’ for young people at home while also recognising that some would still choose to work abroad.
He maintained that the objective should be to ensure that such decisions were made through legitimate employment channels rather than desperation or exposure to unsafe migration routes.
He said the initiative ultimately sought to connect skills, employment, livelihoods and safe mobility, arguing that providing skills without creating pathways to decent work could leave young people facing the same economic pressures that initially encouraged them to migrate.
The BANC founder said a sustainable response to irregular migration must consequently combine employability, decent work, productive livelihoods and safe, orderly and regular labour mobility, rather than relying solely on campaigns discouraging young people from migrating.