Lagos hosts CSOnetMADE, hints on  collaboration

Speaking, Lagos State coordinator of the CSOnetMADE,  Abosede Mary Otukpe said the purpose of this visit was to formally introduce CSOnetMADE Lagos State Chapter and “looking forward to  collaborating with the Ministry of Youth and Social Development.  Across Nigeria, several states have begun the localization of migration governance.  For example, Edo State has established the Edo State Migration Agency, which is coordinating reintegration and anti-trafficking initiatives. Other states, such as Delta, Kano and Enugu  are actually in the process of implementing migration structure.

Lagos  State already plays an important role  through  interventions  such as Lagos state Lagos State Task Force Against Human Trafficking, and the works of the key ministries  including women affairs and Youth and Social Development. However,  this is an opportunity to further strengthen coordination around migration and integration efforts.

Further shedding light on the network's activities, the Southwest Coordinator of the group, Bose Aggrey , said  the network is made of over 360 civil society organizations, cutting   across Nigeria.  “All of these organizations have one form of activity or the other that is related to migration management.  So, our partnership with your ministry is to further break down. If you look at the new migration policy,  I think you have a copy already,  we now have the bottom-up approach, which is also grassroots up approach. And in line with the GCM mandate that there should be all of society  and all of government approach in terms of migration management, working with the civil society organizations makes your work a lot easier.

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“We have persons of diverse qualities, diverse strengths,  and diverse capabilities.  Because civil society organizations are always available to do according to whatever the objective of the organization is, if you have any aspect that touches on any of the organization's areas of strength or functions,  then they are always available.  In Lagos and in Southwest, there are over 100 organizations who are accredited and validated to be functional.  As the ministry, you are at the place of authority,   we are at the place of operation.”

Appreciating members of the network for their visit, the ministry's Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Oluwatoyin Oke-Osanyintolu said: “I know we're  partners in progress, and we're here to ensure that vulnerable people are not taken advantage of. When it comes to migration, it's really the youth that are taking advantage of. So, anything that we can do, any collaboration that we can enter to ensure that they are well taken care of,  we would do.

''But this is a courtesy visit.  Your mandates, on the face, align with our  mandate as a ministry.But we still need to sit down and see where and in what form we can collaborate.  Courtesy visit is a meet and greet. We still need to have another meeting to sit down and  fashion out an action plan.”

Also speaking, the commissioner, Mobolaji Ogunlende said: “I'm actually excited because in recent times,  this is one area that keeps popping up in my head...  You know migration and reintegration of young people. So I'm actually excited that this is happening now.”