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| Photo: JIFORM President |
By Ousman A. Marong
“We need to be more
proactive in telling success stories about Africa. Mind you and don’t be
deceived, migration is not a crime if done through regular means. The number of
money migrants remits home help families to survive better,” said Mr. Ajibola
Abayomi.
The JIFORM President
has made these remarks during an exclusive interview with News-Bite Gambia.
According to Mr
Abayomi, many European migrants in Africa who are engaged in business do send
money back to their various nations.
The JIFORM President
Abayomi said he is tempted to reject the usual labeling of migrants as threats
to economic growth in Europe.
He was asked about the
menace created by the recent media coverage of irregular migration and
migrants’ stories in both Europe and West Africa.
“In analyzing your
questions, I am tempted to reject the usual labeling of migrants as threats to
economic growth in Europe. Apart from clear cases of irregular migration which
the African number is insignificant, what the media should do is to constantly
highlight the sufferings of many irregular migrants,” he remarked.
He further challenged
the media to report fairly about migrants. He added: “The media should also
among other things converse sympathy for migrants that are not criminals but
are purely force to seek greener pastures. Those that are well behaved should
be allowed to regularize their status. I am not changing position here because
the reality also is that they are already in the system abroad. They are
entitled to fair treatment in all ramifications,” he stressed.
Journalists’
International Forum for Migration (JIFORM) was founded in 2018 by Ajibola
Abayomi. The body has been registered as a foundation for professional
journalists solely interested in migration matters. The foundation currently
registered over 200 journalists across the globe mainly focusing on migration
reporting.
It's first
international migration summit was held in Abuja, Nigeria in 2019. It was in
the same year that the body becomes part of the International Organization for
Migration (IOM) global summit on migration. During the summit, a charter was
drafted for journalists covering migration in Tunisia.
Since then JIFORM has
been organizing a series of capacity building, workshops for its members
severally both in Nigeria and on the international scene through the digital
process.
The theme: for this
year’s summit is ‘Migration Governance And Media Strategy for
Development During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The summit will
attract and connect many participants across the globe and will be virtually
held on zoom.
International speaker,
Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba is expected to chair the summit.
Confirming his
participation, the pan-African and the Director of Kenyan law school in his the official response said: “I confirm my availably and willingness to serve as PLO
of Africa.”
The summit that
attracts participants and speakers across the globe would also have in
attendance the Comptroller General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad
Babandede, MFR who has been slated to officially unveiled the event, German
migration advocate Johanna Mac, Mr. Gbenga Omotoso, the Honorable Commissioner
of Information, Lagos State, Nigeria, Harvard trained migration expert, Eric
Chinje and United State base international lawyer, Samuel Adewusi.
“The core drive of
JIFORM is to discourage irregular migration, human trafficking, and lead
advocacy against crisis leading to the internal displacement of citizens in
nations. Specifically, we are targeting the 2nd annual summit of JIFORM in
October from 15th to 17th. Unfortunately, we are in a difficult era with
COVID-19 pandemic, however, we have refused to be defeated by the
circumstances,” he said.
He intimated that the summit would assemble intellectuals adding that alone speaks volumes about
their intention.
“We have been doing this to develop capacity and contribute to the course of humanity from the media angle,” he concluded.
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