By Festus Ahon, Asaba

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, Thursday, blamed human trafficking and irregular migration on the high poverty rate in the country, reiterating the resolve of his administration to partner with the United Nations to curb the act.

Okowa who spoke when the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Mr Edward Kallon and his delegation visited him in Asaba, commended the UN for its various programmes in the state.

Saying the programmes had been of immense benefit to people of the state, he said his administration was checking the scourge of human trafficking and irregular migration with the establishment of entrepreneurial programmes to encourage youths to be self-reliant.

Okowa said: “For so long we have had this relationship between our state government and the UN in various ways and through various programmes that you have introduced in this nation and of which we have benefited as a state.

“As a state government, we have had lots of challenges these few years and Delta state has had its fair share. It was of course compounded in the last several months by the issue of COVID-19. It has been a very difficult time but we will continue to do our best to touch the lives of our people”.

ALSO READ: FG to pay N5bn to urban workers in informal sector ― Farouq

On efforts to eradicate human trafficking and irregular migration, the Governor said the state government was doing its best in tackling the vices but lamented that poverty was a great factor fuelling it.

Hear him: “We know that many of these things are driven by the poverty level of the people and we know the misinformation out there that there are greener pastures outside the shores of Nigeria.

“This has continued to refuel the zeal of our young ones who are misinformed that they need to leave the shores of this country.

“So we are doing a lot in trying to keep our youths engaged in entrepreneurship programmes which we believe will help them to take care of themselves and their families and retrain others.

ALSO READ: Lagos Police impound 70 motorcycles, arrest seven suspected cultists

“This will keep our youths engaged and we will have fewer people seeking greener pastures outside the shores of this nation. Although we are still far away from true success, we have done a lot in our various communities.

“In the past, it was believed that the government will keep employing people but this has shown to be a wrong path as it only increased recurrent expenditure.

“But, we have started carving out funds for capital development which will actually enable growth in the society. We are also mindful of the fact that the present crisis of insecurity may increase the human trafficking which we have been trying to eradicate.

“This is because when many of our youths feel that they are no longer safe in their country, they would want to leave. To a larger extent, we are beginning to let the Federal Government know that there is a need to look beyond the federal policing of our nation. It may not just be enough to take charge of the entire policing of this nation”.

Kallon who spoke earlier said he was in the state to reinforce the partnership between the United Nations and Delta Government, adding that the UN was determined to provide support for the fight against COVID-19, implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), combating human trafficking and irregular migration.

Vanguard News Nigeria