Imo State Has Highest Number Of Intending Migrants To Europe – Report

On Wednesday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed that Imo State has the highest number of intending male migrants with 67 per cent as Lagos followed with 50 per cent.

The statistics was disclosed in the 2020 report on Awareness and Perceptions of Migrants on the dangers of Irregular Migration in Nigeria in Lagos.

Speaking at the event, the Statistician-General of the Federation, Yemi Kale, said the proportion is lower for females (between 32.7 per cent in Imo and 50.3 per cent in Lagos).

Kale said the most common route of migration involves passage through the desert and over sea.

He said, “Nearly all male respondents in Lagos (91.7 per cent) indicated intention to travel through the desert compared to 57.4 per cent in Edo, whereas the results are reversed for females: 42.6 per cent of intending female migrants in Edo planned to travel through the desert compared to 8.3 per cent in Lagos.

“Further, between half and two-thirds of male respondents intended to travel by sea, mostly in Lagos and Edo.

“Illegal migrants face considerable travel risks and dehumanising conditions. Across states and irrespective of gender, returned migrants reported facing dehumanising conditions of detention, sexual abuse, hunger, slavery, forced labour in significant numbers.

“Across all four states, more than 70 per cent of returned migrants indicated having no passports or visas” he said.

Kale noted that by destination, strong preference was for North America, South America and Australia/Oceania, but respondents from Edo and Lagos indicated preference for Europe.

He explained that it was expected that there was no response for interest in Antarctica.

He, however, announced commencement of the implementation of Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS6/NICS) while appealing to Nigerians to cooperation with the agency towards the successful completion of the project. 

“We specifically appeal to the media and our potential respondents in this regard as their contributions is key to successful outcome of the survey.

“The media should kindly play their traditional role of information dissemination by informing the general public of the need to volunteer information to NBS teams of data collectors during the data collection exercise in all the states of the Federation and Federal Capital Territory (FCT)” he said.

Kale further assured that any information given out during the survey shall not be divulged to a third party and will be used as anonymized data for statistical purposes only.